Seven Wonders
by EeveeNicks
Summary: Seventeen years ago, Link and Zelda defeated Gannon and used the power of the Seven Sages to seal him away before traveling back through time to before his attack. Now a new evil rears its head and they must team with warriors from another world, including the stone cold bounty hunter Samus Aran. But even the Hunter has a gentler side, Zelda discovers. SamusxZelda SamZel
1. Ch 1: Battle of the Dragon

**Author's Note:** Hello! Welcome to my attempt at a romance story. (Haha) First off, I have a few things I want to get out of the way. This story had nothing to do with the Human Series or any of my other Metroid Fan fictions. It is in a completely different universe, completely different Samus.

Second, this feels more like a Metroid/Legend of Zelda crossover but it contains other Smash characters like Pikachu, and right now I think it is better classified as a Smash story. If that changes, I'll move it to a different category, but I'm happy with it here for now.

Anyway, I've done romance before, but this is my first multi-chapter romance story, and I think it will be a pretty slow burn romance all things considered. I really appreciate feedback with that and any other aspects of the story you wish to comment on. So please review and let me know what you think. I am going out on a bit of a limb with this one.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Enjoy the story! :)

 **Seven Wonders**

 **Chapter 1: Battle of the Dragon**

"Link?"

The Princess Zelda looked up from her reverie to see the young blond man running toward her. She had been seated in her courtyard in one of her rare moments free from the royal guards. Her only companion had been Impa, a tall, strong woman with dark skin and white hair who served as Zelda's personal bodyguard and near constant companion.

Her quiet times among the flowers of the tiny courtyard were rare and precious, and most at the castle knew to respect them, so it was all the more surprising to see Link, his green tunic smeared with mud, running toward her.

"Zelda!" he called, forgetting all manner of formality as he stumbled awkwardly into the private gardens. "There's been an attack! You need to close the drawbridges to Castle Town!"

The princess's blue eyes grew wide, but she quickly nodded before turning to Impa.

"I'm on it," the tall Sheikah woman said in her deep voice. She backed away a few steps before disappearing with a loud crack and a puff of smoke.

Though it may have looked like magic to those who knew no better, Zelda knew it was actually a technique of the ninja-like Sheikah warriors, and right now Impa would be running as fast as humanly possible to rally the soldiers and get the bridge drawn up.

"Link," the princess said, hiking up her pale pink dress and rushing over to the man's side. "I need to know more about what's going on. What's attacking?"

Zelda didn't question the truth of Link's warnings. The two of them shared a deep bond, and she trusted him completely when it came to the welfare of her kingdom.

Link was hunched over and panting, but as he looked up at her, his eyes were alert and ready. "A dragon."

"Which dragon?" There were several known dragons throughout the lands, each with its own domain and relationship with Hyrule. While they rarely caused any problems, Hyrule's army always had plans in place to deal with any potential hostile advances.

"None that I've ever met." Link regarded Zelda very seriously as he stood up straight. "This creature… if death took the form of a dragon, this is what it would look like. Gray, almost skeletal. With the most horrifying eyes that glowed amber. It was wearing some kind of armor… I think it may have been part machine."

Zelda searched her mind for anything resembling a dragon that might have been part machine, but she could not recall ever hearing about such a creature.

"It's burning the fields," Link continued. "I need to go back. The castle has the guards to protect it, but I have to get back to Malon and the ranch."

"Link, the drawbridge is up, remember? And even if you got past it, there's still all of Hyrule Field. Would you just run across that unprotected?"

"If that's what I have to do," Link replied, his voice growing lower and more serious, "then that's what I'll do. But I was hoping it would not have to come to that."

Zelda frowned. It was an odd shift to see the soft features she showed to the public turn so hard. She looked less like the soft porcelain doll she played for the masses and more like the future monarch she had trained her entire life to become.

"You want me to use Farore's Wind."

Link nodded. "I need to get back to Malon. And I need to get Malon to safety."

"Malon has horses. She can ride one of those if she needs to flee."

"Horses get spooked by fire." Link's features also grew hard and grim. "It could throw her off."

"Malon lives on a ranch, Link. She's been thrown from horseback before. We need you here. You're the Hero of—"

"Malon's pregnant."

Zelda looked like he had just reached out and slapped her. "W-what?"

"Are you going to cast Farore's Wind or am I swimming across the mote and running across the field to get back to Lon Lon Ranch? Your call, Zelda."

The princess wasn't sure how to respond to the news about Malon, and she was not even sure why it had shocked her as much as it had. "Fine."

"Thank you," Link said softly as he reached out his rough hand to Zelda and she took it in her delicate gloved one.

Without another word, the princess closed her eyes and focused on the spell to summon the goddess Farore's holy wind. She could feel the energy rising up from within her as she and Link began to glow in a soft green.

Within seconds, the light of the goddess was swirling around them, enveloping them until they disappeared from sight. Link and Zelda had never been quite sure how to describe the feeling of being transported by magic, but they knew it left them breathless and windswept when they reappeared, as though they had passed momentarily through the eye-wall of a powerful storm.

Zelda slowly opened her eyes once she could feel solid ground under her feet once more. She had expected to see Link looking back at her as he normally was, but he had already turned to face the entrance to the Lon Lon Ranch. She saw him just in time to see him drop her hand and make a dash toward the farmhouse.

The smell of smoke filled the air and clouded the sky. They could not see the flames from where the fields were burning or where the dragon might be.

It took Zelda a moment to get her bearings, still shocked at seeing how quickly the young man had deserted her in search of Malon. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised given their latest development, but she hesitated a moment before following him.

She had just hiked up her dress and started running after him when she heard a sound that made her hair stand on end. It was the most grating screech she had ever heard, unlike the dry of any dragon she had known. It filled her with a sinking dread as she looked over her shoulder and saw the outline of a massive dragon flying toward her.

Zelda gasped as she turned to run as fast as she could into the compound of the Lon Lon Ranch.

"Link!" she cried, choking on the smoke-filled air as she sprinted with all of her might. "Link! Malon!"

"Zelda!" she heard Link's voice call out in the distance, but as she tried to run toward it, all sounds were drowned out by another ear-piercing screech.

This time the dragon's cry was closer, and Zelda could feel her heart racing. She knew she could never outrun it.

"Zelda!" Link called out again, and she saw him, beckoning to her from the door to the farmhouse.

Thankful to have found him, she ran as quickly as she could toward where he stood. All she needed to do was take his and Malon's hands and cast Farore's Wind one more time to transport them all back to safety.

She was nearly there and already starting to call upon the powers of the goddess when suddenly a massive ball of fire flew over her head from behind her before slamming into the farmhouse and exploding.

"LINK!" she screamed as pieces of the building ignited and crumbled, the sharp crack of beams splitting filling her ears. She tried to keep running toward it, but another fireball flew directly into her path, cutting her off from getting any closer to the farmhouse.

Zelda froze where she stood and turned around to find herself face to face with the skeletal gray dragon. Its amber eyes glowed hot like the fireballs as it stared her down as though closing in on its prey. Armor plating lined much of its body, and mechanical components appeared to protect the joints of its wings. It was unlike any creature Zelda had ever seen in Hyrule.

With the fires raging behind her and the dragon before her, the princess was trapped. Without anywhere to run, she stood her ground and prepared to do the only other thing she knew how to do. Fight.

As the dragon opened its mouth once more, Zelda could see tongues of fire dancing in its throat and readied herself to cast Nayru's Love as a shield. It might not have done much, but it might have been enough to buy her time to figure what to do next. She couldn't leave Link and Malon to die here, and they were running out of time quickly.

But the dragon never fired its next flame ball. Instead, it lunged with lightning speed, snatching Zelda up into its grasp and taking to the skies on semi-mechanical wings.

Zelda screamed as panic gripped her. They were rising so high above the ground she didn't know what to do, and the dragon's grip was crushing her waste. She tried to think but her mind was clouded with pain and fear.

Then suddenly, a shot rang out. A fiery blast from the ground pierced one of the dragon's wings. It awkwardly floundered in the air for a moment as it turned to face its new assailant. But even as it turned, several more flaming shots rang out, each one hitting its mark as the dragon screamed and thrashed through the air.

It was losing altitude, and Zelda struggled as hard as she could trying to break free of its grip, knowing they were about to crash to the ground one way or the other. If she could free herself, she might be able to cast some kind of spell to save herself or at least soften her fall to the ground.

Something exploded into the dragon's chest, and Zelda thought it was some kind of projectile bomb. This was the opportunity she had been waiting for, and as the dragon screamed and fell, she used all of her strength to thrash and break free of her assailant's grip. She could see three more of the explosive projectiles strike the dragon midair, but now she was falling quickly and too close to the ground to cast any spell. Ears ringing with the pained screams of the dragon, she closed her eyes and awaited impact with the ground.

But that impact never came. Just when she was certain it was all over and she would die, she felt herself fall into two strong arms as some mysterious protector caught her midair before landing gracefully on the ground. Its movements felt effortless as it placed Zelda on the ground and quickly pivoted to return to its battle with the dragon.

The princess slowly sat up, though her body was trembling with adrenaline. She watched in awe as her rescuer pursued the dragon. It looked to be a man clad in the most unique golden armor she had ever seen. He wore a red helmet, and in place of his right forearm there appeared to be some kind of portable cannon. As Zelda watched this mysterious newcomer shoot the explosive projectiles from the arm cannon, she was certain he was some kind of foreign warrior, perhaps one from the same land the dragon had some from.

Just when it looked like the mystery warrior was getting ready to finish off his enemy, the dragon turned tail and flew away as fast as it could. At first, the armored warrior tried to follow, but realized he would be too slow on foot to catch up with the armored beast.

Instead, he turned and rushed back to Zelda's side, but the princess shooed him away with a wave of her arm and gestured to the burning farmhouse of Lon Lon Ranch in the distance.

"Link and Malon are inside there!" she shouted before choking as the smoke-filled air burned her throat.

The armored warrior, however, seemed unfazed by the smoke and quickly rushed toward the burning building. Zelda sat on the grass, waiting on pins and needles as she watched the mystery man run headlong into the burning building. The few seconds he was in there felt like hours to her, but he eventually emerged carrying both Link and Malon in his one real arm. As he ran toward Zelda, the farmhouse collapsed as the flames reared up into the air and claimed its destruction.

Zelda screamed. She knew Link and Malon weren't in it any longer, but they had been only a few seconds ago, and even now she didn't know if the warrior truly carried them or just their lifeless bodies or what he intended to do with them.

But the warrior simply returned to Zelda's side, and with a surprising gentleness, laid Link and Malon upon the ground before her.

Zelda looked up from where she sat trembling on the ground and stared into the green visor of the otherworldly armor.

"Th-thank you," she managed as she saw her friends' chests rising and falling with breath.

"You're welcome," the warrior said in a deep, hollow voice that barely sounded human at all, and it sent chills up Zelda's spine.

He extended an armored hand to her, and Zelda hesitated but eventually took it. He helped her slowly to her feet.

"They'll be all right," he said in that same unnerving voice. "My scans indicate minimal damage from the smoke inhalation. They should regain consciousness within a few minutes, but it would be best to get them to a hospital facility so they can be given oxygen."

Zelda stared curiously at the newcomer, not sure what half of his words meant, but understanding that he had intended to be helpful. Instead of saying anything back, she pulled a small satchel she always kept tied to the cords she wore around her waist. He deft hands pulled some of the silver dust from the pouch as her magic drew water from the grass beneath her. As she held the water suspended in midair, she mixed it with the powder.

Light began to glow around her hands as she took the mixture from the air and placed one glowing hand on each of her friends' chests. Slowly, she whispered the healing incantation and used her magic to heal the damage to their lungs and throats as she slowly moved her hands up from their chests to their mouths.

As soon as she finished, her hands stopped glowing with magic, and both Link and Malon began to awaken.

Link's eyes fluttered a few times before they opened. He coughed as she sat up, making a face at however he was feeling before looking up at Zelda. He started to smile and the princess expected him to say something, but instead, he immediately turned his attention to the other woman beside him.

"Malon," he said as he helped her sit up. She also coughed, but she looked more confused than he did and worried as one of her hands found her lower abdomen.

"You baby's all right," Zelda said, and the woman stared at her in shock as though just realizing the Hyrulian princess was there sitting on the grass beside them. "I could feel its life force as I healed you."

"Thanks, Zelda," Link said as he pulled the trembling Malon close to his chest. "I don't know how you rescued us, but thank you."

The princess shook her head. "It wasn't me," she said as Link and Malon's eyes simultaneously turned to the warrior in the golden armor who stood before them.

Slowly, Link got to his feet, holding Malon close beside him as he looked the warrior over. His senses were on high alert as he looked for any obvious weak points but couldn't seem to find any.

"Who are you?" the young man demanded.

"I'm a bounty hunter," the warrior replied, and Link flinched at the sound of the synthetic voice. "I've come in pursuit of Proteus Ridley, that dragon you encountered earlier."

"So you're just after a bounty on that creature's head?" Zelda asked as she also got to her feet. "If that was the case, you really went out of your way to save us since he got away like that."

The warrior tilted his head to the side curiously. "No bounty was worth him claiming more human lives."

"Well," Link began, eyeing the warrior skeptically, "thanks for your altruism then, Iron Bounty Hunter, but we can take it from here. Just get that creature out of here so we can go back to our regularly scheduled lives."

"That's what I'm here for," the armored figure replied dryly as he turned to walk off in the direction in which Ridley had flown.

"Wait!" Zelda called, grabbing the one human-like wrist the hunter had. He froze and turned to look at her. There was something unnerving about looking at the blank visor, but Zelda steeled herself and continued. "You're not going to catch him on foot, and I need to know why a creature like that is in my kingdom in the first place."

"What do you want to know?" the bounty hunter asked, surprisingly not putting up any resistance.

"Well…" Zelda stammered as she was caught off guard by the warrior's blunt openness. "What kind of dragon is he? What is he after and why did he come here?"

The warrior was quiet for a moment as though thinking over how to respond. "You're the monarch of this land?"

"The Princess," Zelda replied. "My father is the King."

"Then it would probably be best I have an audience with you and your father before returning to my hunt."

"You want to come back with us to the castle?" Link asked, eyeing the hunter suspiciously. "You? Mr. Cannon-for-an-Arm?"

The warrior simply nodded. "It's your land and your home, and I wish to respect it. I believe an audience with its rulers would be the best way to know how to go about doing that."

"All right," Zelda said, and Link stared at her in shock.

"Thank you," the warrior replied as Zelda turned and began to lead the way back toward Hyrule Castle.

The princess could sense Link's hostility toward the newcomer, but she ignored it. She knew he knew better than to try to contradict her in front of anyone, and she was confident that the warrior was indeed on their side. It wasn't something she knew how to explain to anyone, but she could sense the bounty hunter's intent, and there was no hostility toward them.

They had only gotten a little ways away from Lon Lon Ranch when the bounty hunter froze and turned to look over her shoulder. Zelda could feel Link tense up as they all stopped to see what the warrior was looking at.

"Pika!" something squeaked as a yellow rodent the size of a small dog ran out of the tall grass and over to meet them.

"Pikachu!" it said, looking up at them with it's little black eyes. Most of its body was yellow except for a couple of brown stripes on its back and the base of its lightning bolt-shaped tail. It had round red cheeks and a little bit of black at the tips of its point ears.

"Aw!" Malon squeed as she looked at the creature. "It's so cute!"

Link readied himself incase the creature was hostile, but Zelda just watched it in confusion. It seemed like she was just meeting one strange creature after another today.

But the little rodent had no interest in the three Hylians as it dashed over to the armored warrior and jumped up high onto one of his massive, rounded shoulders.

"Hello, Pikachu," the warrior said, giving the rodent a small pet on the head.

"Pika!" it squeaked happily.

"You know this creature?" Link asked.

The bounty hunter nodded. "Yes. Quite well. His name is Pikachu, and he was recently forced out of his home by creatures similar to Proteus Ridley. But I'd prefer to only explain all of this once, so I'll wait until we arrive at the castle."

"Sounds reasonable," Zelda said as she walked forward and once again began leading the way to Hyrule Castle.

Link gave her another look as though to ask if she was serious, but she ignored him. When he wasn't getting anywhere with the princess, the young man turned to give the warrior a warning look instead.

"I'm watching you, Bounty Hunter."

"Understood," the warrior replied as he continued forward unfazed. "And it's Samus, by the way."

"What?" Link asked.

"Samus," he replied. "My name is Samus. Samus Aran."


	2. Ch 2: Lady

**Author's Note:** Hello! I just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and followed. I know this is quite a bit different than my Metroid stories, so I hope you enjoy it.

I figure I should explain this here because, even though it'll be explained in the story, the whole time travel thing can be confusing. This story takes place after Ocarina of Time. Link and Zelda retain their memories of what happened despite going back in time at the end to being ten. This is seventeen years after that so they are physically 27 years old and mentally 34. Samus is roughly 35 and unaffected by any time travel, but she looks a bit younger thanks to her Chozo DNA.

 **Chapter 2: Lady**

"Samus Aran?" The King asked as he looked down at the bounty hunter from his elevated golden throne. He was an older man with an unruly white beard and eyebrows to match. His portly build made his arms and legs seem short while he was seated.

Beside him, there was an empty throne only slightly lower than his own, one whose violet velvet was so worn it implied that someone had occupied it for many years, perhaps decades, though they were nowhere to be found.

The third throne was the lowest, and in it sat the Princess Zelda. She had on a new dress, a lavender one with a very ornate embroidered sash. She wore a golden crown upon her head and what appeared to be matching golden shoulder covers. She no longer looked flushed and covered in mud as she had on Hyrule Field, and now she regarded Samus, Link, and Pikachu standing before their royal audience. Zelda had a very dignified grace about her, looking much less like the terrified young princess from earlier that day and much more like one soon to ascend to the throne of queen.

"Samus Aran," the King repeated, still eyeing the armored figure with the yellow rodent upon his shoulder. "You are a mercenary and thus due no loyalty to any man or any land."

"Respectfully, Your Majesty," Samus began in his deep inhuman voice, "though that is correct, I do have the best interest of your people in mind now. We find ourselves with a common enemy, the dragon known as Proteus Ridley."

The King studied the bounty hunter more closely while Zelda remained silent. "While I am grateful to you for saving my daughter as well as the young couple from the Lon Lon Ranch, I am not entirely convinced a common enemy is sufficient basis for Our kingdom to trust you. Especially when you refuse to remove your helmet."

"I don't refuse to remove my helmet," Samus stated calmly. "You simply did not ask me to."

"Are you from a land where it is any way considered an appropriate level of respect to an authority figure to converse while your face is covered? Do you mock this Court?"

"Not at all," Samus said, his synthetic voice not betraying a hint of emotion. "Where I come from it is simply accepted that those of my profession often remain masked as a way to protect our own identities and those of our families. But I have neither any family nor a life outside of my work, and if it pleases you, I will remove my helmet."

Zelda found herself suddenly intrigued and leaning forward without realizing it. Though she wondered about the mysterious warrior's face while she had been dressing, she did not think she would get the opportunity to see it so soon. A thousand images flickered through her mind as she tried to imagine what he looked like.

"Then remove your helmet," the King said, a hint of annoyance in his tone as he stared at Samus.

"Pika pika!" the yellow rodent on the warrior's shoulder squeaked as it glared at the King, but Samus ignored it.

Instead of arguing or putting up any resistance, the bounty hunter's free hand simply pressed something on his cannon arm. There was a sound like air whooshing and then he took the helmet in his hand and pulled it off.

Zelda's eyes widened as she stared at the warrior's face. A thousand permutations had crossed her mind, but never had she expected the face she saw before her now.

"You're a woman?" the King asked, taking the words right out of Zelda's mouth. Even Link was staring in shock at Samus.

"Technically, yes," Samus replied. Her voice was still deep for a woman's but it sounded much more natural than it had through the helmet. "I suppose I should start leading with that since it never ceases to surprise people."

Her tone was dry, and she seemed almost annoyed as though her sex was something she needed to explain on a regular basis even in her own world.

Zelda did her best to hide her smile, but a knowing look from Link told her he knew what she was thinking of. Seventeen years earlier, or ten years earlier on an alternate timeline, Link had been very surprised to learn Zelda had been masquerading as a man for seven years during the Dark Lord's reign.

The princess now looked at Samus's face. She was still a young woman, probably only a few years older than Zelda, but she had a very hard look about her. Her blue eyes were cold and empty, and battle scars marred her pale skin. Her long blonde hair was pulled up in a sweaty, messy ponytail. If it had not been for the distinctly feminine shape of her face, Zelda might have taken her for a man even without the helmet. But there was something feminine about her, something that might have even been pretty if she had known a different life.

"You're not a Hylian," the King said, unimpressed by Samus's reveal. "You have rounded ears. What manner of being are you?"

"I'm the last of the Chozo," Samus replied, not bothering to explain what a Chozo was. "But my origins are not important. Your Majesty, you and your kingdom are in very real danger. I've hunted the dragon Ridley throughout the galaxy, and slain him many times. Somehow he always regenerates. I've tracked him here to your world, and I believe he's looking for something and will stop at nothing until he gets it."

The bounty hunter opened a small compartment on her cannon arm and removed a small yellow orb. Pikachu's ears perked up as he looked at it, and his red cheeks began to glow with a yellow energy.

"What is that?" the King asked, but Zelda had rushed from her throne and run to Samus and Pikachu.

"It can't be!" she exclaimed, earning the confused looks of both Link and her father. Staring into the yellow orb, she could see into what appeared to be a whole other world. Flashes of cities, forests, fields, and their unique animal-like inhabitants flashed across her vision. "This is one of the Seven Wonders!"

"What?" Link asked, looking between Zelda, the orb, and Pikachu. The rodent was standing protectively over the orb, the energy pulsing from his cheeks becoming denser. "What are you talking about, Zelda?"

Zelda looked up to Pikachu. "May I hold it?"

"Pika pi!" the yellow creature said. Samus seemed to understand her companion's squeaks because she handed the orb over to Zelda.

"I can't believe it," Zelda gasped, holding it up and studying it. "I wasn't even sure this existed! This is the Orb of Light! But what's the world it shows?"

"That's Pikachu's world," Samus said, taking the orb back from the princess. "When I arrived on his planet, it was overrun by Space Pirates, the beings who make up the armies Proteus Ridley commands. Pikachu was one of the only survivors of his forest. The rest was burned to the ground as the Pirates searched for this orb, but he had managed to smuggle it out and bring it to me."

"The Guardian of Light," Zelda murmured as she looked at the small rodent and he puffed out his chest.

"I believe there might be a similar artifact in this kingdom," Samus continued. "And I'm here to find it before Ridley and his minions can get to it. Because believe me, I know the destruction they can do to planets much more advanced than this one. Your armies won't stand a chance."

"Zelda," the King called, still sitting up on his throne. "What is this warrior woman talking about? Are these Wonders something you've encountered in your studies?"

The princess turned to her father and nodded. "Yes, Father. I have seen them in many of the ancient texts, but I did not believe them to be real until I saw this one with my own eyes. I believe Lady Aran when she says there could be another one here in Hyrule. And that would mean we are in very real danger."

"And you've seen this dragon with your own eyes?" the King asked, his round face contorting itself as he tried to figure out how to rule on the matter at hand. "And you believe that this mercenary woman could actually defeat him?"

"I saw it with my own eyes, Father. Lady Aran is a great warrior! She would have slain the beast had she not stopped to Link and Malon's lives, not to mention my own. She should not be treated with suspicion, but should be hailed as a hero!"

Samus didn't say anything. Her face remained blank, and only Pikachu seemed to pick up on how uncomfortable the attention made her. He watched her fingers twitching around her helmet, waiting for the opportunity to put it back on.

The King stared at Samus, still not pleased with her appearance but giving more weight to his daughter's assessment. "Very well. You will be permitted to remain in Hyrule, bounty hunter, until such time as the danger has been eliminated."

Samus tried to hide her small, cocky smirk as she imagined the King and his forces attempting to remove her from the land. "Thank you, Your Majesty."

"Under one condition," he added with a stern glare at the warrior. "You will serve as the personal bodyguard to my daughter and heir to this throne, the Princess Zelda."

Samus's jaw nearly fell open, but only years of stoicism prevented that from happening. She turned and looked at the princess in disbelief. "Your Majesty, I don't think that babysitting the princess is going to be very conducive to me hunting down and killing Proteus Ridley so I can find the treasure he's looking for."

"Of course," the King replied, his voice dripping with acid. He did not even bother to mask his distaste for the armored woman. "You will protect this kingdom, specifically my daughter, the future Queen. As far as this treasure goes, you have no claim to it. If it's in Hyrule, it belongs to Hyrule, not in the hands of plundering pirates or greedy bounty hunters."

"Your Majesty," Samus began with a hint of anger in her voice, and Pikachu's fur stood on end.

"SILENCE!" the King boomed as he glared at her. "You are only permitted within our kingdom because my daughter has testified that you saved her life. If it had not been for that, I would not permit you here at all. And if I say you are to act as her bodyguard, then you will do as you are told. And understand, I am only being so generous because of your sex. Were you a man, I'd send you to the barracks."

Samus could feel her temper building up inside of her but bit her tongue. The last thing she needed was to cause a diplomatic incident because she lost her head again. And this time, she doubted she would have any support from the Galactic Federation government given that she was hunting Ridley on her own time.

"I accept," she acquiesced, not seeing any more productive alternatives at the moment. If she had to babysit a princess, then so be it. There were worse things, and Zelda seemed to be the only one with any knowledge of the orbs. Not to mention, Zelda seemed to be the only person who didn't seem to be sizing her up or looking for ways to get rid of her. She would take the princess any day over fat king or elf boy.

"Good," the King said with a wave of his hand. "Then be off with you. Zelda will escort you to your living quarters."

Samus looked over to Zelda, and the Princess smiled. She mouthed that things would be okay before she turned to lead Samus out into a long stone corridor. As they walked, Link and Zelda's feet padded quietly along while the heavy metal clank of Samus's boots echoed through the hall. Pikachu jumped off of Samus's shoulder to walk beside them like a small cat.

After they had been walking for a while, Link turned to Zelda and raised his eyebrows. " _Seven_ Wonders? Guardian of _Light_? Is this related at all to you-know-what?"

Zelda gave him a look that told him to shut his mouth, and Link took it that his suspicions were correct. They walked the rest of the way in silence, stopping only once they made it to an ornate golden set of double doors.

"These are my chambers," Zelda said as she slowly pushed the doors open. As the group stepped inside, Samus looked around, taking in every last detail.

"It's beautiful," the bounty hunter said, earning her an odd look from Link.

"Thank you," Zelda replied with a little smile.

The entryway to the princess's chambers was a large room. The stone floors were similar to those throughout the castle, but there were large, plush furs on the ground like rugs. There were rows of bookshelves lining the walls and a wide wooden writing desk beneath an ornate stained glass window depicting some kind of triangle with an upside down triangle at its enter. Below it, the window depicted what appeared to be three women who were red, green, and blue respectively.

The atrium also contained three heavy wooden doors. The outer two were plain, but the center door had the same triangle figure etched in gold.

"I'll take it you can figure out which one leads to my bedroom," Zelda said as she watched Samus studying the doors. "Impa's is the room on the right. You may stay in the room on the left if you desire, although I think Father intends for you to stay in my room with me. But I don't care either way."

"Impa?" Samus asked, looking down at the princess. Zelda was acutely aware how tall the hunter was, taller than Link even.

"She was my sort of nanny as a child. She's a warrior woman of the Sheikah. You two would probably have a lot to talk about if you meet."

Samus raised her eyebrows and looked back around the room. "If we're both staying here, I assume she and I will meet eventually."

Zelda shrugged as she made her way over to a delicate looking white satin sofa. "That's up to you. I assume you're going to head out now that my father isn't looking. That way you can go kill that dragon yourself. I won't try to stop you, but I would request you spend at least one night here. Let me offer you a hot meal and shelter for the night as a token of my gratitude for saving my life."

Samus was quiet for a moment as though trying to figure out if the princess was being honest or not. After a while, she nodded. "I wouldn't mind that. Thank you."

"Wouldn't mind that?" Link gave Samus an incredulous stare. "Hey, I don't care if you're some kind of rogue warrior or whatever, but when Princess Zelda does the kindness of offering you _anything_ , you better act a hell of a lot more grateful in the future!"

Samus didn't say anything. Link looked like he was about to continue telling her off when he yelped and jumped up on one foot.

"Pika pi!" Pikachu shouted, flashing his little teeth and looking ready to pounce.

"It bit me!" Link looked between Pikachu and Samus. "Your pet bit my ankle!"

"Pika!"

"Pikachu," Samus said softly, turning to crouch down and offer her hand to the small rodent. "At ease. We don't attack people for things like that."

"Pika Pika! Chu! Pikachu!" The animal seemed to be pleading with her, but Samus shook her head before he eventually relented and climbed back onto her shoulder.

"I'm sorry about that," Samus said, turning to Zelda and very obviously ignoring Link. "Thank you for your hospitality. I suppose I'm just not used to being offered such things and wasn't sure how to respond. We would be happy to stay the night."

Zelda gently patted a seat beside her on the couch. "Excellent. Now why don't you take off your armor and stay for a while?"

For some reason, this suggestion made Samus visibly uncomfortable, and Zelda noticed that the bounty hunter was still fiddling with the helmet she held.

"I'd rather just retire to my room," Samus replied. "It's been a long day."

Zelda was taken aback by the abrupt shift in the hunter's demeanor, but she decided it would be best to give the warrior some space. There were dozens of questions she was dying to ask her, and she was eager to get to know the woman who forwent a bounty to save her life.

"As you wish, Lady Aran," the princess said. "I'll make sure to alert you when dinner is served."

"Thank you." Samus nodded as she began walking to the door that led to her assigned bedroom. She was just about to enter when she paused and turned back to look at Zelda. "Actually, it's just Samus. Not Lady Aran."

The princess looked confused as she studied the bounty hunter's face. "'Lady' is a title. I meant to honor you for saving me."

Samus shook her head. "I appreciate it, and I'm sorry if I'm out of bounds again with the whole royal etiquette thing, but I'm no Lady. I'm just Samus. Nothing more."

Zelda took a minute to process what Samus said before she nodded. "All right then. Samus, thank you for saving me. I'll let you know when dinner is served."

"Thank you," the bounty hunter said before hurrying into the room and locking the door behind her.


	3. Ch 3: No Spoken Word

**Author's Note:** Thank you so much for everyone who left feedback for the previous chapters! I really appreciate hearing from all of you and knowing what you like and don't like. I've never been much of a romance writer so this is a challenge for me. A challenge I'm enjoying, but a challenge nonetheless.

Samus in this story is different than the version of her I wrote in the Human Series, my main Metroid fan fic series. She still has a lot of the same basic Samus traits but she's a different character. It's fun to play around with different interpretations of the same character and Samus is a fairly easy one to do that with.

 **Chapter 3: No Spoken Word**

Samus wasn't sure what to make of this planet. As she and Pikachu stepped into her assigned room, she pulled the door closed and locked it behind her.

The bounty hunter sighed as she looked at the tiny doorknob in her armored hand. Places like this always made her uncomfortable. Everything felt so small after being on her ship in her power suit or going to Space Pirate infested planets and fighting their giant monsters. This door was made of mere wood, and the princess's suite was clearly designed for the delicate touch of royal hands, not her power suit.

It also made her anxious to think how easily Ridley or any of the other enemies she fought on a regular basis could break through these walls. While the massive stone castle may have offered protection from spears and arrows, it would be nothing against plasma or missile fire.

As Pikachu ran off to explore their room, Samus stood by the doorway and looked around. It was much more simple in design than the atrium in which she had left Zelda. There was a narrow bed with soft white linens, a small window, and a few unlit candles on the walls. There was an armoire, and Samus supposed they expected her to store her clothes in there, assuming she had brought any, and on the interior wall to the right was another wooden door leading to a small washroom.

It was the best living quarters anyone had offered Samus in years.

While she traveled to a lot of different worlds and helped out a lot of different species, she rarely stuck around for long. She supposed the Luminoth from her recent mission to the planet Aether would have been more than happy to let her stay with them for a while if she wanted. But she didn't bother staying around to find out. As soon as her final battle ended, she said her good-byes and exited with little more than a wave of her hand, anxious to get back to her ship.

Historically, things didn't end well for any of the beings she had grown close to, and now that she was basically a walking target for Ridley and the Space Pirates, she didn't want to bring their wrath down on anyone else.

So it confused her why she had accepted the King's invitation to stay at Hyrule Castle. Part of her wanted to think it was so she could be here to protect them from Ridley, but she knew that was a lie. Ridley was out there, recovering from their battle, getting stronger again, while she was in this small room filled with furniture made of material she could crush in the palm of her hand.

"Pika-pi-chu!" Pikachu said, giving her a knowing look from where he stood over on the bed. Samus had more or less come to understand the things he tried to say, having grown closer to the small animal than anyone else in years.

"Oh really?" She raised an eyebrow. "You think you know what I'm thinking about?"

The rodent nodded. "Pika Pika."

"What am I thinking then?"

"Chuuu-uuuuu!" He looked around the room and back at Samus, a slight belligerence in his expression.

She tiredly shook her head. "You're right. I don't know why we're here. Although food and rest won't hurt us. Especially not a little pipsqueak like you."

"Pika!" The yellow animal exclaimed as he dashed suddenly for Samus. Quick as her reflexes were, he was almost supernaturally fast and found his way onto her shoulders before she could stop him. With a triumphant grin, the little Pokémon grabbed the red scrunchie out of her hair and jumped back on the bed with it, holding it up proudly. "Pika-pi! Pikachu!"

Samus ran a hand through her long hair now that it was loose. It fell down to the suit's mid-back, limp and slightly matted. "Trying to tell me to let my hair down— literally? And kick off my boots and stay a while?"

Pikachu nodded and Samus groaned. If there was one thing she tried to avoid at all costs, it was disarming her power suit on strange planets. But at this point, she had already taken off her helmet to show the King her face so he wouldn't be so offended.

"Why the hell did I even agree to staying here?" Samus made a face as she pressed a few buttons on her arm cannon. Within seconds, the armored suit began to glow yellow before disappearing in a burst of white light.

The way Samus's power suit dematerialized was always a bit shocking to Pikachu, but he was getting used to it now after the weeks they had spent together on her ship searching for Ridley. The first time she had taken it off, the rodent had been extremely confused but decided it must have worked similarly to how pokeballs did in his world, although he didn't know where she stored it when it wasn't on.

Even without her armor, Samus was a large, intimidating woman. Over six feet tall and heavily muscled, she still looked every bit the battle-hardened warrior she was in the power suit. She wore only a blue leather tank top and shorts that showed off her chiseled abs and muscular limbs. Her blue boots were of a matching material and stopped just before her knees. The only other things she wore that resembled clothing were the two matching blue leather bracelets on her wrists.

"Happy now?" she asked in her deep voice.

"Pikachu!" the Pokémon grinned.

Samus rolled her eyes before walking across the room and throwing herself on the bed. It creaked ominously under her weigh, and she grunted. It was hard to remember not to be so rough when she was coming out of her battle mode, especially when she was dealing with delicate furniture like this.

She tried laying on the bed and making herself comfortable, but it just felt wrong. As she stared up at the ceiling, she knew she would never be able to sleep here. Most nights she slept in the pilot's seat of her ship, clad in full armor and ready for an attack. This bed was soft. Its linens were neatly pressed. It was designed for a peaceful night's sleep. But it wasn't made for someone like her.

The bounty hunter sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She looked out into the room and once again questioned why she was here. The King clearly distrusted an outsider like her. The man called Link wasn't any keener on her presence. There was really nothing their armies could do to stop her from hunting Ridley and finding the next of those Wonder things. The only one who wanted anything to do with her was the Princess Zelda.

Samus's mind lingered for a moment on the young woman. She looked like one of those stereotypical maidens from medieval Earth literature, or like those delicate kind of ladies in books who fainted whenever anyone said boo to them. But that wasn't the impression Samus had gotten from the way Zelda had acted around her, coming to her defense when her father objected to the hunter's presence. Even when Samus had rescued her from Ridley's grasp, the princess had also been fighting to free herself, and when Samus had gone to check on her, the first thing she had done was wave Samus away to go save Link and Malon instead.

Samus smiled to herself as she thought of her former Commanding Officer from her days in the Federation Army. There was something about the princess that reminded her of him, the way she put saving the others before her own safety and the way she had calmly but forcefully made sure Samus was given a place to stay for the night.

Perhaps that was why she had agreed to stay, the bounty hunter mused. If it was just that the princess subconsciously reminded her of her old friend, that was a perfectly logical explanation for why she found herself where now did.

"PIKA!"

Samus snapped out of her thoughts as her eyes darted over to the sound of Pikachu's squeak. In a flash, she was on her feet, cannon arm raised. It didn't take her long, however, before she realized the sound was coming from behind the washroom door. Curiously, she poked her head inside to see Pikachu standing over what appeared to be a small hot spring in the middle of the room.

"Pi-pikachu!" he said triumphantly as he pointed to the gently steaming water. There was something that appeared to be a bar of crude soap set in a large seashell beside it. There was even a stack of towels on a shelf on the far wall.

Samus was confused as she crouched beside the water, staring into it and even touching it with her fingers. There was no plumbing connected to it, and there was no way a hot spring had formed naturally like this on the castle grounds. Her scans had not indicated anything of that geographical nature in her analysis of the land.

Then her mind returned to the scene she had witnessed earlier that day, when she had seen Zelda seem to heal her friends as if by magic. Whatever she had done, her skill seemed almost on par with the Chozo's energy manipulation technologies, perhaps even more efficient in some ways. Perhaps that sort of "magic" was what heated the water now.

"She intends for me to take a bath," Samus said, more to herself than to Pikachu.

"Pika-pika." The Pokémon nodded and stared at Samus.

"It could be a trap. There's something unnatural about that water. I don't like it and—"

Samus never finished her sentence because Pikachu leapt into the air and cannonballed into the water, making a big splash before coming up for air.

"Pi-ika! Pi-ika!" he laughed as he splashed around and beckoned her in.

"You should have let me run an analysis of this spring before getting in."

Pikachu rolled his eyes. "Pika-pi. Pikachu."

Samus frowned. "I'm not scared. I'm using caution. We don't know this world."

But she knew he was right. There didn't seem to be anything unusual about the water aside from the temperature, and even that might be explained by the planet's strange technology. Had she been on any other foreign world, she would not have hesitated to investigate the water for herself, but there was something about the seeming hospitality of it that made her uneasy. At least on hostile worlds, she could trust that everything wanted to kill her. Here it was different.

In spite of her instincts, Samus slipped off her boots and clothes before stepping into the hot spring beside Pikachu. The water felt amazing on her tense muscles as she let herself sink into it up to her neck. The steam was so gentle and relaxing it almost made her want to close her eyes. Instead, she just stayed still, soaking in the water for a while as Pikachu swam around in circles, clearly enjoying himself.

It really did seem like Zelda was trying to be a good hostess because she was genuinely grateful to Samus for saving her life earlier, and Samus wished she could just accept that without the nagging suspicions plaguing her mind. Sometimes she felt like she was downright paranoid, seeing death and hostility around every corner, even when it was dressed up as something innocuous. As a general rule, kindness bothered her. People rarely did anything without expecting something in return.

She took the bar of soap and began to wash herself while Pikachu tried to blow bubbles in the water. It felt nice to finally clean the sweat and even some dried blood from her body. She had been in the power suit for so long this time she honestly couldn't remember when the last time she had bathed like this had been. It was a bit embarrassing, but she didn't have much of a reason to leave the protection of her suit these days.

When she finished with her body, she washed her hair the best she could, trying to comb it through with her fingers. The soap didn't lather like shampoo did but it was better than nothing. When she finished with that, she thought about taking a few more minutes to enjoy the warmth of the water, but the thought of actually relaxing put her too on edge so she got out and began to towel herself off. Pikachu jumped out after her, shook himself like a dog, and grabbed a towel of his own.

Samus stared in dismay at her discarded clothes on the ground. She didn't have anything clean to put on given that she had only come here with the clothes on her back. It hardly seemed suitable for dinner at a castle. Still, it was all she had, and she would be wearing the power suit over it. She doubted she would be doing any actual eating.

She dressed and reactivated the power suit minus the helmet. Something told her the King would not be pleased to see her covering her face a second time, and she really did not feel like causing a diplomatic incident with this planet. Sitting through a dinner would be hard enough without everyone around her getting nervous because they couldn't see her face. Besides, it would be even harder to pretend to eat if she wore the helmet.

Striding out of the washroom, she walked through the bedroom and readied herself to head out into the atrium where she had left Zelda. She was not sure how long it would be before the princess would ask her to join them for dinner, but she figured she should be ready just in case.

What she had not expected to see when she opened the door, was that Zelda was just behind it, carrying a pot of something and getting ready to knock.

The Hylian's eyes were wide as she stared up at the tall bounty hunter. "What a coincidence," she said. "I was just coming to get you for dinner."

Samus nodded, not sure what else to do. Zelda's lavender gown was quite elegant and seemed much more suitable for the occasion than her armor or blue workout clothes. "I wasn't sure what to wear to dinner in a castle. I didn't exactly pack for any formal events."

The princess looked up and down at Samus's power suit and smiled gently. "I didn't think you would want to go to an actual formal dinner, so I brought it to you." She held out the lidded pot and gestured to the delicate tea table with two table settings prepared. "Although I doubt my chairs could withstand the weight of your armor."

"Heh." Samus glanced over at the delicate looking wooden chairs with their intricately ornate carving designs. "It's definitely not a chance I would want to take."

"It's only the two of us here. I don't know how you feel about removing your armor, but if you don't want to, we can sit on the floor."

"Pika!" The little mouse jumped out from behind Samus, sniffing the air. "Chu!"

"Of course you're welcome to some as well, Pikachu," Zelda said, bending down to give the little creature's ears a stroke.

"The floor would be best," Samus said, eyeing her warily. The fact that Zelda had even brought up the idea of Samus taking off her armor set off a big red flag in her head, but logically she knew it was not unreasonable. Even if she didn't take the risk of breaking the chairs, it would be awkward to eat when one of her forearms was a giant cannon.

Zelda didn't question it as she placed the pot down in the center of the table, ladled out three bowls of stew, and set them around in a small circle on the ground. Then she set the goblets and placed the spoons in the bowls.

"Not exactly the fine dining you might expect from the castle," Zelda said with a little laugh, "but I got the impression you would prefer this to having to sit around with a bunch of stuffy nobles."

Samus and Zelda sat down, and the bounty hunter took the small spoon in her armored hand. It felt awkward but the thick beef stew smelled delicious. For the most part, Samus's meals consisted of the MRE's she kept stocked up on her ship so something hot and freshly cooked was a rare luxury.

Zelda and Pikachu had dug right in while Samus mostly stared at it and stirred it for a while with her spoon. It was hard to trust any food she had not been able to watch being prepared.

As though reading her mind, Zelda paused. "You don't have to eat it if you aren't comfortable with that. I guess I'm just so used to people enjoying stuff like this that it never occurred to me that maybe you don't eat the same kind of stuff we do."

Samus didn't say anything.

"If you would like," Zelda continued when she saw the bounty hunter wasn't going to respond, "I can summon Impa and have her bring us something else from the kitchen. We have some pretty amazing cooks here at the castle."

"Why are you doing this?" Samus asked, completely ignoring her companion's question.

"You mean… feeding you?"

The bounty hunter nodded. "What do you personally gain from that?"

The princess seemed taken aback by the question, but Samus's stoic expression didn't falter.

"I suppose I just wanted to thank you," Zelda said after a moment. "You saved me, Link, and Malon from that dragon. I just thought you must have traveled a long way and were probably tired and hungry, so I thought I'd offer you a warm bed and something to eat."

Samus sighed. "I guess that's as good of a reason as any."

"Although… perhaps I did have a bit of an ulterior motive. You brought the Orb of Light with you, and well… I've come across the Seven Wonders a few times in my studies of ancient magic, but I had no idea until now whether or not they even existed. So I guess I was also hoping maybe you could tell me a bit about them."

Somehow knowing that Zelda had a personal interest in keeping Samus around made her feel better. "You probably know more than I do. I just know Ridley is after these things, and they must be powerful or else he wouldn't bother. I just want to get to them before he does."

"But what do you know about them?" Zelda pressed, her eyes lighting up with a thirst for knowledge.

"That, presumably, there are seven of them."

The princess frowned. "I guess that's all you would really need to know if you were only looking to keep them away from that dragon."

"I know there must be one on this planet. Maybe more, but I doubt that. I don't know for sure, but I think they might be Chozo in nature."

"Chozo," Zelda repeated. "That's what you are, right?"

Samus nodded. "Partially anyway. I'm mostly human but not entirely."

The thought clearly intrigued Zelda but she must have decided to leave the topic of Samus's genetic makeup for another conversation. "What do you plan to do with the Seven Wonders once you collect them?"

Samus shrugged. "I don't know. They must do something crazy if they were hidden across so many different planets. I'd probably try to find a way to destroy them."

The princess looked like Samus had just slapped her. "Destroy them? Ancient magical artifacts?"

Samus shrugged. "Destroying things is kind of what I do. If the Wonders were created by the Chozo and I inherited their legacy, then it is my job to make sure they don't hurt anyone. And if the only way to do that is by destroying them, then so be it."

"I… suppose I can follow that logic." Zelda looked sad. "It would just be a shame."

"Just doing my job."

"Forgive me if this is too blunt," Zelda began, studying Samus's expression closely, "but you don't seem much like a bounty hunter. The ones we've had come through here in the past we much more interested in seeing what sorts of riches they could gain for themselves at the kingdom's expense. That's why my father has been so hostile to the idea that you are here."

Samus stirred her stew quietly, watching as the steam rose and filled her senses with its enticing smell. "Your father isn't wrong to be suspicious of me. If I saw someone who looked like me and I had no idea where they had come from, I would be suspicious of them too."

"Oh." Zelda's face fell as she saw that all the while they had been talking, the bounty hunter still had not so much as tasted the meal she had prepared. "I suppose keeping your guard up helps you survive the sorts of things you do. It's not a bad trait for a monarch to have either."

For a long time, no one said anything. When it was abundantly clear Samus would not touch the food, Pikachu ran over to her bowl and began eating. Zelda was clearly looking discouraged and almost seemed like she though she had insulted Samus in some way. For some reason, the thought that her refusal to eat had upset Zelda made her feel bad.

"Thank you," the bounty hunter began after the long silence. "I know I didn't eat, but I do appreciate your hospitality. You didn't need to offer me anything, let alone open your home to me. So… thank you, I guess. For your kindness."

The light seemed to return all at once to the princess's eyes as she smiled at her companion. Something about seeing her smile made Samus feel better too.

"It's no problem at all," the princess said. "You're welcome to stay here as long as you want, even if you don't want to eat anything."

Samus wanted to smile but found herself unable to. Though she was enjoying the princess's company, she could not escape the memories of the fates that had befallen everyone she had allowed herself to care for over the years.


	4. Ch 4: Certain Time, Certain Place

**Author's note:** I don't think they ever specified what Zelda was a Sage aside from the leader of the Sages, so I always assumed she was the Sage of Time or something. Because there were a long of "(Noun) of Time"s in the the Ocarina of Time.

It's really odd to be writing a romance when my normal genre is sci-fi fi horror. I promise this won't be as dark as "Xenophobia" and "Zero Host," but just be warned that I used a lot of restraint while writing those too. This will stay in the T for Teen range. I promise I will do my best with that. It's a personal challenge since I haven't managed to get a multi chapter story with Samus in it to under an M rating.

But she's a different Samus than in the Metroid fics I've written. I don't think Zelda would have been able to handle that one's temper...

 **Chapter 4: Certain Time, Certain Place**

Zelda awoke that night in a cold sweat, chest heaving as an icy dread settled in her chest. She tried to recall the details of her nightmare, but they were vague now in her waking state.

But she could remember that feeling. That same feeling that had woken her up… how many years ago? She had been a child then, theoretically seventeen years ago, but time had ceased being linear for her right around then. However long ago it was, it didn't matter. All that mattered was that she knew the feeling.

She jumped up with a start, throwing the covers off of her as she scrambled to find her clothes. Only the pale moonlight illuminated her room as she grabbed a dress out of her closet and threw it on haphazardly. Then she took a brown leather satchel that had been tucked away behind her dresses and slung it over her shoulder. There was no time to waste. Something was coming. Something might have already been here.

She could still feel it in the air, the same feeling that had awoken her. Even all these years later she would never forget that feeling, the aura of pure evil. All she knew was she had to get to the Temple of Time before whatever evil was coming their way.

Running through the castle's stone halls in her bare feet, Zelda flew with an urgency she had not known in a long time, not since she and Link had sealed the Dark Lord himself within the Evil Realm using the powers of the Seven Sages. And the entrance to that realm was hidden deep within the Temple of Time, sealed by the Sword of Evil's Bane. It had been that way for seventeen years. She had never had any reason to question that spell's effectiveness.

Only now she did. As the princess ran outside and across the castle grounds, the cold night air bit at her bare arms and the ground felt like needles under her soft feet. But she didn't stop running. Not even when the guards in the distance tried to call out to her. She could feel the pulsating of her hand where the mark of the Triforce was.

In her mind's eye, she could see the same images that were sent to her in her dreams. Slowly, they started to come back to her as the Temple of Time came into view.

There was the image of the Master Sword, resting on its pedestal within its sealed chamber, just as they had left it. But there was also a dark miasma forming around it, something seeping from the depths that had once been sealed. The image of the Dark Lord flashed across her vision.

Gannondorf.

It started to rain as Zelda made it to the Temple of Time. As she pushed open its heavy stone doors, she stepped into a very plain looking chamber. It was mostly just gray stone blocks, but ahead of her, she could see the sealed door with the golden Triforce emblazoned upon it. Just before it sat an altar with a black stone top. It was empty now, but Zelda knew it held the secret to opening the sealed door, and she needed to get into that chamber. It was the only way she could be certain the seal on the Dark Lord still held.

Slipping the satchel down off of her shoulder, Zelda reached in and pulled out an ornate gold and green artifact, the Kokiri Emerald. She placed it on its spot on the altar, and it began to glow softly. The she reached into her back again, pulled out a similar piece containing a double ruby and placed it on the altar as well. The last piece was a triple sapphire, and as she placed it on the altar, she could feel the energy in the room shift.

The blood ran cold in her veins as she pulled a small blue ocarina out of the bag and put it to her lips. Just beyond that sealed door would be the room she saw in her dream, the one with the swirling miasma. She wished Link were with her, but there wasn't any time to go get him. She'd have to depend on her own magic to repair any damage she might find to the seal. She had always suspected this day might come and had prepared a series of spells to prepare herself for it.

But nothing could have prepared her for what she saw as the wall opened to reveal the chamber of the Master Sword.

It was exactly the same as she had left it. No swirling dark miasma, not auras of evil energy. Nothing.

Zelda stared into the chamber in confusion as she walked toward it. The stone ground was cold under her bare feet and the soft sounds of her footsteps were all she could hear in the massive, empty chamber. As she approached the Master Sword, still in its pedestal, she reached out to touch it. It felt the same as it always had. Just a sword in a stone temple.

The princess sighed. On one hand it was a relief to see everything was all right, but on the other hand it concerned her. She had had several psychic dreams in her life, and she had felt so certain this was one of them. Perhaps, she thought to herself, she was a little on edge given what had transpired with that grotesque dragon earlier in the day.

She blinked. She had had been so caught up in running toward the Temple of Time that she had completely forgotten Samus was staying with her. Not that it would have made a difference. She doubted Samus could do much in terms of reinforcing a magic seal. Still, the bounty hunter seemed quite powerful and it might not have been a bad idea to ask for her help.

Zelda turned and was just about to leave the chamber when all of a sudden, the temple began to shake. She froze as she heard a familiar ear-splitting screech fill the room, and within seconds the front wall of the temple exploded.

The princess threw herself to the side out of the way of the debris as she shielded her face. It was too dusty to see anything as rubble rained down around her, but she could hear the screech as the creature entered the chamber. As the dust began to clear, she could make out the same massive form of the dragon she had encountered earlier that day, and he was staring directly down at her through his golden orange eyes.

"Princess Zelda," the creature boomed in a voice that sounded suddenly familiar. Her heart sank as she looked up at him.

"G-Ganondorf?"

Ridley laughed as her stared down at Zelda hungrily. "I'm merely speaking through this being since he has so willingly offered himself as a conduit between our realms. You didn't think you had seen the last of me, did you?"

Zelda just froze. She tried to think of a spell to use, but her mind went blank as she stared into the dragon's soulless eyes, still trying to comprehend what was happening.

"Of course," Ridley continued in Ganondorf's voice, "I'm still here in this other realm. Powerful as I am, I still need something more to complete my spell, and a blood sacrifice will do just fine for that!"

Behind Ridley, the Master Sword began to glow a bright red as a dark fog started to seep from where it was embedded in the stone pedestal. Zelda couldn't take her eyes off of it until the instant she heard Ridley shriek again. She turned to him just in time to see the dragon lunge at her, teeth and claws bared and ready. She put her hands up in a pathetic attempt to protect herself as she braced for impact.

But the strike never came. Just as Ridley was lunging at Zelda, something flew out from the temple's entrance as exploded on his face.

The dragon shrieked as he jumped away from Zelda just in time to dodge another one of the explosive projectiles.

"The Hunter!" he cried out in Ganondorf's deep voice.

Samus ran forward, not missing a second as she jumped into the air and performed some kind of electrified somersault across the room. Ridley screeched as it made impact, and the bounty hunter uncurled from her jump, grabbing onto his wing and firing a burst of hot plasma into his neck.

The dragon screamed again, but this time he began to glow with the same dark aura as the miasma that was now filling the chamber. It seemed to burn Samus as she was forced to jump off of him and away.

"Fool," Ganondorf hissed. "I have powers they could only dream of in your world."

But Samus remained unfazed as she shot several missiles toward the glowing dragon. Ridley easily dodged each of them, but instead of going for Samus, he turned his attention back to Zelda. The princess was on her feet now, hands raised and ready to put up whatever kind of fight she could.

But as the massive space dragon lunged at her, she knew whatever she could do wouldn't be enough. He didn't need to kill her. He only needed her blood.

She was about to cast Nayru's Love to protect herself from as much of the blow as she could, but something threw itself in between her and the dragon. As she felt the creature's strike throw them both into a wall, she looked up to see Samus shielding her with her body. Zelda gasped as a blast of hot flame rained over them, but the bounty hunter's armor took the full impact, keeping Zelda safe from any burns.

The princess sighed as the attack finished and she realized he hadn't managed to get so much as a scratch on her, but her relief was short lived as she saw the dragon staring back at them with fresh red blood on his claws.

"Thank you," Ganondorf's voice boomed throughout the room, now independent of the dragon's form and seeming to come from the dark mist around them.

"No!" Zelda cried out as she saw Ridley reach his bloodied talon over to the red glowing Master Sword and clutch its hilt.

He pulled it from its pedestal like it was nothing, and from where it had been embedded, even more of the dark fog poured out at an alarming rate. However, unlike the miasma earlier that had filled the room, this one stayed close to the pedestal, hovering just above it as it grew and took the form of a large, dark man. Though his features were not fully formed and were still somewhat transparent, his eyes were clear as the light of day.

"Ganondorf," Zelda whispered as she realized Samus had turned back to the shadowy form and was trying to fire more projectiles at it, but they all passed right through him.

With an otherworldly laugh, the shadow Ganondorf began to form a ball of dark purple light, and as it grew larger, it exploded, sending dark magic out in every direction.

Once again, Samus threw herself in front of Zelda to protect her from the attack, but the magic took its full grip on the bounty hunter, grabbing her with invisible hands and pulling her up into the air. Samus flailed, unable to move as Zelda watched her from below.

Her heart was pumping quickly as adrenaline rushed through her veins. Zelda knew she needed to do something quickly. The longer Ganondorf held Samus in the air like that, the more solid his form seemed to become, and she realized he must have been pulling life force from the bounty hunter herself.

Without a moment to spare, Zelda felt the magic rushing into her hands as she cast Din's fire and sent the flame out at Ganondorf's form. It exploded in his shadowy face, and as it broke his concentration, Samus tumbled to the floor.

The bounty hunter tried to land on her feet, but the dragon was on her before she could get her bearings. Missing no time at all, he rushed forward, grabbing her in one of his clawed hands and slamming her so hard into one of the walls that the stone cracked and the whole temple shook.

Samus flailed in his grasp, firing missile after missile at the dragon, but it was clear Ganondorf's spell had been draining her, and try as she might, she couldn't break free as she was scraped against walls and repeatedly slammed into them.

Zelda looked on in horror, wanting to help, but the Dark Lord stood between her and the struggling bounty hunter. As the two of them locked eyes, Zelda stood her ground and could feel the flames forming around her fists.

"I sealed you away once," she yelled at him, "and I'll do it again!"

Ganondorf smiled in amusement. "But you had the power of the other six Sages on your side then and the Hero of Time. Now where is he?"

From the other side of the chamber came a loud screech, and Zelda looked past Ganondorf to see Samus standing with her foot on the dragon's throat and her cannon rammed into his mouth as she fired off another series of missile blasts. The dragon screamed and flailed, and Ganondorf grunted in annoyance.

"That one is annoying," he muttered, and with a flick of his hand, Samus was enveloped in the dark energy again and sent flying across the room as Ridley got to his feet. "Now," he said, turning back to Zelda, "where were we?"

But as he looked over at her, the princess had disappeared. Within seconds, she reappeared directly in front of his face with a burst of green light. Before Ganondorf could respond, his face was met with a fist full of Din's fire.

The Dark Lord shouted in pain as he was driven backwards. Zelda kept up her attack, sending blast after blast of fire at him as she drove him away. Eyes closed and sweat pouring down her face, she wasn't sure how she was doing, but she kept at it, giving it all that she had. She thought she was making progress, but a blast of dark energy knocked her backward, throwing her to the ground. Her body slid across the stone floor and into the far wall.

Slowly, she opened her eyes just in time to see the shadow Ganondorf standing over her, ready to finish her off with one last strike of dark magic. But before he could strike her, something metal ran through his body from behind, thrusting out the front. Zelda perked up quickly when she realized the item running through him was the Master Sword.

"Link?" she called out as Ganondorf shouted in agony. His shadowy form began to dissipate as he returned back to the form of an amorphous fog.

Zelda thought for a second that they had finally defeated him, but instead of disappearing entirely, his gaseous body hovered over to the fallen body of the dragon Ridley on the far side of the chamber. As the miasma flew into him, Ridley rose into the air, suspended in a dark energy as he opened his amber eyes once more.

"You haven't seen the last of me," the dragon boomed in Ganondorf's voice as he spread his wings. Before Zelda could do anything else, he flew away, speeding through the hole through which he had entered, and disappeared into the night.

Zelda sat motionless on the ground for a moment before she noticed a hand reaching out to help her up. At first she thought she would turn to see Link, but instead it was only the armored form of Samus, the Master Sword held in the crook of her cannon arm.

"Oh," Zelda said, unable to hide the surprise in her voice. "You're the one who wielded the Master Sword…"

Samus didn't say anything as Zelda took her cold, metallic hand and she helped her to her feet.

"Thank you," the princess said as she looked into the hunter's visor, "for saving my life. For protecting me from Ganondorf the way you did."

Samus tilted her head curiously. "Isn't that what I'm here for?" she asked, and Zelda was surprised to hear it was in her own voice rather than the synthesized robotic one.

Zelda shook her head. "That's just what my father thinks. But… thank you." Then remembering the blood on Ridley's claws that he had used to resurrect Ganondorf, she looked at Samus with concern. "Are you all right?"

The hunter nodded. "This is the kind of thing I'm built for."

"You were bleeding," the princess insisted. "He pierced your armor."

Samus shrugged. "It will repair itself."

"I don't care about _it_. I'm concerned about _you_."

Samus brushed off her concern with a wave of her hand. "We should get you back to the castle. I have a feeling nothing good can come of that ghost wizard teaming up with Ridley."

 _Ghost Wizard?_ Zelda thought to herself, but she followed along quietly as Samus led them out of the temple. They walked out into the dark night to find it had started raining much harder now.

Samus led the way, shielding Zelda from most of the wind, and the princess got a good look at the damage to the back of the hunter's armor. There were deep claw marks in it, clear as day, but the rain was washing away most of the drying blood. She wasn't sure if the bounty hunter would allow it, but Zelda planned to offer to heal her wounds as soon as they arrived back at the castle. Of course, that would involve asking Samus to remove her armor and she probably had a snowball's chance in Death Mountain of getting that to happen.

When they arrived back at the castle, they came face to face with some very angry looking guards who seemed ready to reprimand Samus for being out with Zelda in a storm, but one look from the princess told them to shut their mouths and another look at the Amazonian bounty hunter told them that was the right choice. Samus and Zelda made if back to the princess's chambers without incident.

As they entered the atrium room that led to the three bedrooms, they saw Impa waiting for them a very concerned look on her face.

"Impa," Zelda said, "send for Link and tell him to come here at once. We have trouble."

The Sheikah nodded as she left to go carry out her mission, leaving Samus and Zelda alone once more. As the princess closed the door behind them, she looked over to the hearth to see Samus had somehow started a small fire while her back was turned.

"Thank you," she murmured, looking between the hearth and the warrior.

Samus took the Master Sword and leaned it against one of the walls. "I must be going."

"What?" Zelda stared at the hunter in confusion. "But we just got back."

"So long as those two are still out there," Samus said sternly, "I cannot rest. Staying even one night here was a mistake."

"No!" Zelda found herself nearly shouting as she rushed to get between Samus and the door. "You can't go yet!"

The bounty hunter froze and stood silently staring at the princess as though asking her to explain. Zelda could feel her hair stand on end just looking into the faceless visor of Samus's helmet and shuddered to think of how she must have looked to her enemies.

"That man," Zelda began, "his name is Ganondorf, and he was sealed into that Temple by me and Link seventeen years ago. He's an extremely dangerous person who possesses the Triforce of Power. You saw that the only thing that could hurt him was that sword." She gestured to the Master Sword leaning against the wall. "Even with all of your strength, your powers will be useless against him without magic. He will kill you. You're already hurt from protecting me. Please, stay here. Don't go after him until we can come up with a way to fight him. Last time it took all of my magic, the power of the Seven Sages, and Link's courage to seal him away."

Samus was quiet for a moment as she looked at Zelda. "…Seven Sages?"

The princess nodded. "Yes, I'm one of them, the leader of the Sages and the Sage of Time, and then there are the Sages of Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, Spirit—"

"And Light?" Samus asked before Zelda could finish.

"Y-yes." The princess nodded as she suddenly realized where the bounty hunter was going with her train of thought. "Just like the elements of Seven Wonders."

Samus thought about it for a moment. "So your world seems to be at the heart of this whole thing, I guess? For Ridley to come here and find that wizard, this world must be very central to the Seven Wonders."

"I actually don't know," Zelda confessed. "Do other worlds have equivalents of our Sages?"

"Worlds vary a lot. Back in my own world, this seems like something that might have come from Chozo legends so I've just assumed they had a hand in it somewhere." Samus glanced over to the Master Sword. "Maybe that's one of the Seven Wonders?"

Zelda looked over at it as well. "I… I would like to think I would have figured out by now if one of the Wonders was just sitting under my nose like that."

Samus shrugged. "It was only a guess." She was silent for a moment before she turned back to Zelda. "I'll stay though, if you want me to."

Zelda smiled. "I would like that."

The bounty hunter nodded. "He seemed to really want to hurt you, and I don't want him to be able to do that just because I'm off searching for Ridley."

"That makes sense."

"Besides, if they're after you, the easiest way for me to get at them is to stay close. That way I can be here to protect your kingdom and kill Ridley at the same time."

Zelda smiled nervously. "Heh… that's not particularly confidence inspiring, Samus. I could have gone five seconds without thinking of myself as the primary target of a Dark Lord and a psychopathic mass murdering dragon."

"Oh. Sorry, I'm just being tactical and honest. They both really want you and Link dead, it seems, so an attack on this castle is inevitable."

"Samus!"

"Er… but you know, maybe that's…." If it was possible, the bounty hunter seemed almost nervous. "I honestly don't know what to say. I'm not good at making people feel better…. You could wake up Pikachu and go pet him or something. He's better at this stuff than I am."

The princess couldn't help but laugh at how awkward the hunter sounded. "That's quite all right. Honestly, just knowing you'll be here tonight makes me feel better. You're a very strong warrior, Samus."

The hunter didn't say anything.

"Now, I know you haven't eaten anything since you got here," Zelda said, taking a seat on one of her delicate looking couches, "and I doubt you've slept a wink. But I would like to take a look at those cuts on your back. I can heal them."

The bounty hunter shook her head. "Negative. I'm not removing my armor while Ridley is so close, especially not while he's fused with Ganondorf's energy."


	5. Ch 5: Go Your Own Way

**Chapter 5: Go Your Own Way**

Samus silently cursed her own stupidity as she stepped outside of the castle to survey its grounds. It was still pitch dark outside, and the rain was falling much more heavily. Scans indicated that the temperature was falling as well, and Samus was glad she had gotten Zelda home when she had. The princess would not have done well outside without shoes or a coat in this weather.

Thinking of Zelda, she could not help feeling flustered. The princess had asked her to remove her armor so that she could heal the wound on her back. But Samus, of course, in her usual stubbornness, had refused. Now she regretted that choice as her adrenaline levels fell and the cut became more painful.

She sighed. Refusing to let Zelda heal her was only the second stupidest thing she had done that night. The first thing was letting herself be wounded in the first place.

Her armor could have taken the force of Ridley's attack, and she knew it. But rather than keeping her energy shielding up, she had rerouted a lot of its power to create a sort of shield around the princess to protect her from the dragon's attack and the scorching heat of his flames. In the process of doing that, she had spread the energy shielding around her own body too thin, and Ridley had gotten one good swipe at her and breached her power suit.

She felt so dumb she could kick herself.

But Zelda was alive, and she wasn't injured. That alone, she supposed, was enough to justify that impulsive decision. If anything had happened to the princess, Samus reasoned, she never would have forgiven herself. She was a hardened bounty hunter and could keep fighting even while taking heavy damage, but Zelda didn't look like she'd be able to.

Even as grateful as she was that the princess had survived unblemished, Samus still couldn't help feeling uncomfortable about something. Even with her shielding stretched as thin as it was, Ridley should not have been able to tear through her armor so easily. She didn't know exactly what this Ganondorf character was capable of, but Samus had a bad feeling that his power might have somehow been responsible for Ridley's sudden strength increase. If that were the case, she would have to find a reliable way of dealing damage to the wizard, and she'd have to do it quickly.

"Pika pika?" a small voice called out from behind her, and Samus turned around to see Pikachu standing in stone archway leading into one of the castle's stone halls. He looked concerned as he studied the bounty hunter. "Pika pi?"

"It's nothing," the hunter replied gruffly. "Just a scrape. I would think a creature whose entire life used to revolve around fighting for sport would be familiar with the concept of a minor injury."

"Pika!" The Pokémon retorted, more annoyed by her snarky comment than concerned for her wellbeing.

Samus smiled to herself behind the visor. Distracting Pikachu from her injury had been her intent.

"You really should go back inside," she said as another rumble of thunder echoed in the distance and the heavy rain began to fall sideways in the intense wind. "I can take care of myself out here. You should stay with Princess Zelda and make sure she's all right."

Pikachu shook his head and gestured to Samus with both of his arms. "Piiiika." Then he gestured back toward the castle as he looked at the bounty hunter. "Chuuu."

"You want me to go back into the castle?" Samus raised an eyebrow behind her visor. "I'm standing guard. For some reason, I get the feeling the actual guards around here aren't very effective."

"PI-KA!" Pikachu gestured more forcefully into the castle.

"What are you trying to say?" Samus was more or less familiar with her companion's communication style, but there were some things that eluded her. "Is there a reason I should go inside?"

Pikachu nodded.

"Okay. Is someone requesting my presence?"

"Pika!" The little Pokémon jumped into the air excitedly.

"Is it the king?"

"Chu." Pikachu shook his head.

"Princess Zelda?"

"Pika pika." He nodded enthusiastically and gestured toward the inside of the castle once more.

Samus paused for a moment, wondering what state she would find the princess in. She had been foolish to think Zelda would be able to just go home and get some rest after what they had just been through. She knew she sure wouldn't be sleeping any time soon.

She was about to refuse and insist on staying outside instead when she suddenly had a flash of how nervous the princess had seemed when they had gotten back. The look of concern she had shown for Samus in regard to a minor armor breach had made the bounty hunter profoundly uncomfortable. Samus didn't like seeing any innocent person distressed, but it particularly bothered her to have Zelda look at her that way.

"Fine," the hunter eventually relented as she looked down at Pikachu. "If she really wants to see me, I'll go in."

"Pika!" The little creature jumped into the air and did a flip.

Samus grinned under her helmet as she followed Pikachu into the castle. She had a soft side for the little guy and his antics.

They weren't too far from the princess's chambers. As much as Samus felt the need to guard the castle from Ridley, she knew protecting the princess was also a major priority. She had compromised by staying close by. Being inside the castle was actually a bit creepy to her. Its large stone hallways felt ancient and it seemed to buzz with an unnatural energy she could not place. She wondered if it was related to the "magic" she had seen Zelda wielding earlier.

When the bounty hunter and the Pokémon arrived at Zelda's chambers, they saw the princess sitting on her couch beside a tall white-haired woman in a skin-tight blue body suit with the image of an eye at its center. She had eyes of the most unnatural red. Over in the far corner of the room, Link watched Samus like a hawk as she came in. He had the Master Sword gripped tightly in his left hand as he sized her up but didn't make any show of aggression.

"You wanted to see me?" Samus asked as she looked between Zelda, Link, and the woman.

"Is this the warrior you were talking about?" the woman asked, eyeing Samus closely. "The one that is more machine than man?"

"That's her," Link said, his eyes still locked on Samus.

Zelda looked pale and tired as she just shook her head. As much as she seemed to appreciate her companions' concern for her wellbeing around the strange bounty hunter, it was getting old.

"Samus," the princess said, "you've met Link. This is Impa. She is a Sheikah and my personal guard. She's been with me since I was a child."

"Nice to meet you," Samus said with a little nod. The other woman nodded back, but the bounty hunter still felt uncomfortable with so many eyes on her. She understood their concern about her intentions with the princess, but that didn't mean she enjoyed the attention.

"Samus saved my life," Zelda said, turning to Link and Impa. "She chased away the Shadow Ganondorf and the dragon Ridley. She used her own body as a shield and absorbed the entirety of the attack."

Impa regarded the bounty hunter with her unreadable red eyes. "We are most grateful to you for protecting our princess, even to the extent of taking such damage for her."

"But we still don't trust you," Link added, staring her down. "Before you arrived, Ganon had been sealed away for good and no one had ever seen or heard of a dragon named Ridley. Just where in the world did you even come from?"

Samus pressed her lips together as she studied the three eager faces all waiting to hear her tale. She supposed this was inevitable, but she wasn't so sure that understanding her origins would make them feel any better about her.

"As I've said before," Samus began, "I'm from another world. More specifically, I'm from another planet. My planet was destroyed, and I have since dedicated my life to pursuing and destroying those who were responsible for that. That dragon, Ridley, was one of the invaders. I watched him kill my mother and devour her corpse. I was just a child, but I remember it clearly. Now wherever, he goes, I go. I won't let him harm anyone else, not so long as I'm still breathing."

She kept her voice level as she was speaking, but her heart rate was rising even as she spoke. By the time she was finished, she knew her left hand was visibly shaking, but if anyone noticed they didn't say anything. The only sign she received that anyone knew how recounting those memories affected her was the way Pikachu snuggled his body close into her shin like an affectionate cat.

"So you pursued this Ridley here?" Impa asked. "All the way from another planet? You possess the ability to travel amongst the stars?"

Samus nodded, happy that this was the aspect Impa had decided to focus on. "Yes. I have a ship… one designed for space travel as opposed to traveling over water."

Zelda's eyes were alight with fascination as she studied Samus, taking in each of her words. "You have a star ship. You can travel straight into the realm of the goddesses!"

"Sort of." Samus shifted uncomfortably. "I've never knowingly encountered a goddess before, but yes, I do travel through the stars. Regularly."

"That sounds wonderful," the princess said, all traces of her previous fatigue absent from her face as she looked up at Samus. "I've always wondered if such things were possible."

"We're getting away from the issue at hand," Impa cut in suddenly, giving stern looks to Link and Zelda before turning back to Samus. "Princess Zelda tells me you possess immense power, single-handedly taking down the dragon Ridley, even after the damage you suffered protecting her. That's no small feat. But even still, your weaponry alone could not defeat this new incarnation of Ganon."

Samus nodded. "He was there, but also not there, sort of like a ghost. I saw Zelda's energy attacks were damaging him, and I saw that sword had a similar energy signature, so I used it to cut into him. He fled after that."

"Fascinating." Impa's stoic face betrayed no emotion. "Perhaps the goddesses did lead you here for a purpose."

Samus tilted her head curiously, and even Zelda seemed confused by Impa's statement.

"What do you mean?" the princess asked.

The Sheikah's features softened as she turned to Zelda. "Only that perhaps she was meant to find you and Link. Your magic combined with her power could be very powerful indeed. I have no doubt that Ganondorf is combining his own powers with those of Samus's dragon."

"Ridley is after the Seven Wonders," Samus said, ignoring that Impa had implied that Ridley was somehow her dragon. "If you know what this world's Wonder would be, I need you to let me know. The sooner I secure it, the sooner I can get out of here."

"Are you sure it's _Ridley_ whose after those Wonder Balls or whatever?" Link asked. "He's not just being manipulated by Ganondorf? He seems like a pretty dumb beast."

"Ridley is not a dumb beast," Samus snapped, glaring directly at Link. "He is the leader of a highly advanced civilization of nomadic beings called the Space Pirates, and they destroy entire planets. I don't know why he bothered unearthing your dead wizard man, but that guy must have some connection to the Wonder of this world."

Zelda's eyes widened as she looked between Samus and Link. "It's us."

"What?" Link looked confused.

"The Wonder he's after. It's the Triforce. That's why he went after you on Malon's farm earlier and why he went for Ganondorf. Ridley is trying to assemble and steal the Triforce."

Samus looked around. "Triforce? Like that shape-thingy on all of your doors and stuff?"

Zelda nodded. "I suppose that's one way of putting it."

"So what exactly is a—"

"That's a long story," Zelda cut the bounty hunter off. "But what it comes down to is that Link, Ganondorf, and I each have a piece of the Triforce. It's our world's greatest and most powerful treasure. Long ago, Ganondorf tried to kill me and Link for our pieces of the Triforce, and that's why we sealed him away in that Temple."

"So…" Samus thought it over for a moment. "This thing is inside of you guys? How hard would it be to just cut it out so I can be on my way?"

Zelda, Link, and Impa all looked horrified at the bounty hunter's suggestion.

"Er…" Samus paused, not sure exactly what this thing was that was inside of them but realizing they probably had no intention of parting with it. "That came out wrong. I guess, you wouldn't really want to have your Triforces removed?"

"That's kind of the point," Link said, giving her a nasty look.

"Pi _ka_ -chu…" The little Pokémon pressed his palm to his face and shook his head.

"Okay," Samus said, her face still flushed with embarrassment. She was just glad the green of the visor didn't betray her scarlet hue. "We won't cut open Link and Zelda. Can we at least cut open Ganondorf?"

"Oh my goddess!" Link rolled his eyes.

"I think," Zelda began more gently, "you are a bit confused as to what the Triforce is. It's not something physical like a bone. It's more like a magical energy. It's a part of our souls."

"Well," Samus said, still feeling dense and embarrassed, "that's going to complicate things. I can keep a little yellow orb safely with me at all times to keep it safe from Ridley. Taking two people with me is a whole different story."

"What about," Zelda began, looking suddenly nervous and excited, "if you just took one person?"

Link gave her a look. "Zelda, I respect your authority and all, but I'm not getting on a ship with a couple of space aliens."

The princess smiled mischievously. "I wouldn't do that to you, Link. Not with Malon's baby on the way and everything. Besides, you need to stay here and protect Hyrule…. Actually, I was thinking maybe I could go."

"Your Highness," Impa said, looking slightly nauseous. "I don't advise that."

"You said it yourself," the princess said, turning to the Sheikah. "The goddesses brought her here to me for a reason. That reason is to stop Ganondorf, which Samus can't do because she doesn't have magic."

"Zelda," Link pleaded, "that's crazy! You're the princess of Hyrule!"

"Which is all the more reason why I know this is the right choice! The goddesses brought her to me for a reason. She's an incredibly powerful warrior. And I know I'll be safe with her. She's already protected me, and you only need to look at her back to see the significance of that."

Samus could feel her face getting hot again as all eyes turned to her.

"Of course," Zelda added, "that's if she would be willing to have me with her."

The bounty hunter didn't like being put on the spot like that, but on the other hand, she did have an obligation to collect and protect the Seven Wonders before Ridley could get to them. Not to mention, she had made a promise to the king to protect Zelda, though she wasn't sure taking Zelda to space counted as protecting her.

She used her suit to quickly scan the surrounding lands for any sign of Ridley's energy signature, but there was nothing there. If he really did consider the Triforce and Ganondorf to be the Wonders he was seeking this world, he may have already departed from the planet. He knew Samus would be protecting Zelda, and in his state, he probably was not looking for another fight so soon.

"Well?" Link asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"If Princess Zelda wants to come with me" Samus said, "then she may. My ship is one of the safest places in the galaxy. Ridley and Ganondorf won't be able to get to her there."

The princess grinned. Link wore a look of complete exasperation that stood in stark contrast to Impa's look of quiet acceptance.

"Very well," the Sheikah said. "I have no objections to Her Highness's will if she truly believes this was the destiny brought to her by the goddesses."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Link said. "Fine. Zelda, knows better than anyone about this kind of stuff. But I swear to Farore that if you hurt her, I will hunt you down myself and kick your ass, bounty hunter!"

 _You'll hunt me into space?_ Samus thought to herself, but resisted the urge to be snarky. This was hardly the appropriate time for that. Instead, she just nodded. "Understood."

"Pika! Pika!" the Pokémon cheered, as though welcoming Zelda to the party.

"Now," the princess said, looking serious once more as she turned her attention to Link and Impa, "if you would please excuse us, I would like a moment alone with my new companion."

Link huffed, but he nodded. "Okay. We'll get out of your hair. But you've gotta come say good bye before you go."

"Agreed," Impa added as the two of them turned to leave the room.

"Thank you," the princess said as the two warriors closed the door behind them, leaving Zelda alone with her new crewmates.

"Pikachu can stay in here, right?" Samus asked, not sure what the princess was expecting of her.

"Of course Pikachu can stay. He's part of our little group, isn't he?"

"Pi!"

Zelda smiled. "I'll take that as a yes." She stood up and turned to Samus, her face more serious. "I'm willing to go with you, Samus, because I trust you. But in order for this to work, you need to trust me too."

"Oh?" The bounty hunter was taken aback. "What are you getting at?"

"Your armor." Zelda looked at her very seriously. "I need to know you trust me to be around you even without your armor, and I need you to let me heal the wound on your back. I can't fight alongside someone who doesn't trust me."

Samus was quiet for a moment. "I… don't really like removing my armor. It's sort of a part of me." She looked down at Pikachu, and the little mouse nodded to her. "But I also don't want to start this partnership out on the wrong foot because… well, as I'm sure you'll see when we get to my ship, I'm not exactly good at working with other people."

"I understand that," Zelda said, keeping her voice soft. "And I want to respect that, but I also need to know we have trust between us."

Samus took a deep breath and swallowed hard. Her heart was starting to race again. Quietly, she lifted her arm cannon and pressed a couple of buttons on it with her other hand. Within seconds, she was surrounded by a bright light, and her shape shifted from that of the armored warrior to that of a human woman before Zelda's eyes. As Samus came back into view, the princess looked obviously intrigued.

"It really isn't normal armor," Zelda said in awe, looking up and down Samus's body. She was still nearly as tall as she was with the armor, and her body was hard and heavily muscled. Scars marred much of her exposed skin, and the blue leather crop top and shorts did little to hide it.

Samus pulled her hair down from its messy ponytail and looked at Zelda. Her skin was pale from the lack of sunlight, and she looked tired but wild. There was a feral air about her, almost a warning to the princess not to get too close.

"As you can see," Samus said, turning around just enough to show Zelda the back of her right shoulder, "it's already healing on it's own."

To the princess's amazement, though the wound was only a few hours old, it already looked as though it had been healing for several days. There was still dried blood caked to Samus's skin and clothes around it, but the wound itself was sealed closed and already well on its way to healing.

"Wow," Zelda said, still staring in amazement. "You really don't need my help."

Samus shrugged and looked away nervously. "Stay on my ship for a while and I'm sure you'll find an opportunity to try again. I tend to get into some pretty nasty fights. Adam says I don't know my own limitations, but I've gotten lucky so far because my enemies haven't figured them out either."

"Adam?"

"A friend. Sort of. Grouchy old CO I used to serve under."

"If we go to your world," Zelda said, "I'd love to meet him."

Samus raised an eyebrow but couldn't help smiling a little as well. "Seriously, we've got much bigger things to focus on right now."


	6. Ch 6: After the Glitter Fades

**Author's Note:** Help everyone! Welcome back! I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who read this far and particularly those of you who have reviewed. This is my first foray into a multi chapter story in the romance genre, so I'm really hoping for feedback so I can improve as a writer. I normally write scifi/horror. lol. So this is quite the change of pace.

The fact that I'm working on a love story between two women also makes it all the more difficult for me since it's rather personal. Outside of fan fiction there aren't very many lesbian adventure/love stories, and most LGBT movies I've seen have usually ended in one of the leads dying from AIDS or in a hate crime. It's so sad. I really want to deliver a good same-sex romance story with enjoyable fluff and yes, the happy ending type deal that's basically required by the genre. It's just hard when I feel so self conscious writing it.

Sorry for the lengthy note. I guess I'm just trying to say I want to write and complete the lesbian love story that I always wished I could have read as a baby dyke, one that didn't have a tragic ending or serve as a warning in some capacity. So yes, I really appreciate any and all feedback because I'm really putting myself out on a limb with this one.

On an unrelated side note, yes, that is the same ship layout that Samus has in "Spawn" and "Xenophobia" in my other AU series. ;)

 **Chapter 6: After the Glitter Fades**

Zelda wasn't sure what she was expecting Samus's ship to look like, but she was definitely not expecting what she saw. It looked less like any sailing ship the princess had ever seen and more like a giant version of the hunter's helmet plated in gold.

"Well?" Samus asked as she saw the princess staring in confused awe at the space-faring vessel.

"It's…" Zelda wasn't sure what to say. She couldn't even think of a vague polite comment to hide her bewilderment. The ship was just too weird looking.

This whole experience had been just plain weird from the moment Link had run in to tell her that Ridley was attacking on Hyrule Field, and yet none of that was anywhere near as weird to her as the fact that she had flat-out insisted she accompany Samus to her ship and out into space.

The sun was starting to rise over Hyrule Field, though it was still cold. The ground was wet and soppy, but the rain had ceased. Zelda hadn't slept a wink since she had awoken from her nightmare, and as far as she could tell, Samus had not slept at all since coming to the planet. She wondered how the bounty hunter managed to stay so alert even as her own eyes were drooping.

Back in her full power armor, Samus had insisted they leave for her ship as soon as possible. Zelda didn't understand it, but somehow Samus knew Ridley was not on the planet anymore. Her suit apparently contained some kind of space magic that could see for miles and miles, but even it had lost Ridley and Ganon's signature when they had apparently departed from the planet.

"I know it's probably not much to look at," Samus said suddenly in her deep voice, "especially not for someone who grew up in a castle, but this is my home. And I'm quite fond of it."

Zelda looked over to her companion. Pikachu was sitting atop the bounty hunter's shoulder, but her helmet hid the hunter's face and made it hard to remember there was a person in there.

"It's not what I was expecting," the princess said, "but it is a very unique looking vessel, and I'm thankful you are willing to share it with me."

The hunter's blank expression was unnerving, but Zelda didn't say anything. Samus had taken off her armor earlier at the princess's request, and she had clearly been uncomfortable, like an animal whose senses were on high alert against predators. Her aura had calmed down again when she had gotten back into the armor.

Zelda looked at the way the light of the rising sun shimmered off of the gold ship. It truly was unlike anything she had ever seen, but then again, so was Samus. Even without her armor she was an amazingly tall and strong-looking woman. Her legs and arms were heavily muscled, and her exposed midriff had a very solid looking set of abs. Zelda had spent a lot of time around warrior women during her time with the Sheikah, but Samus was easily the most formidable woman she had ever seen.

The only thing that bothered Zelda was how much of the bounty hunter's body was covered in scars. She thought Link had been in his share of battles over the years, but his skin showed nothing compared to hers, and he didn't even wear armor. Zelda shuddered to think what sorts of enemies Samus encountered back in her world, especially if Ridley was any indication.

"Zelda?" Samus called, snapping the princess back into reality.

"Yes?"

"Sorry, you just seemed a little zoned out. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

The princess nodded. "I'm all right. Just tired and a little nervous. That's all."

She should have been paying better attention to her surroundings, especially with everything that had happened over the past couple of days. But she was exhausted, the lack of sleep really catching up with her. She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep going like this, and for some reason it was so easy to let her guard down knowing Samus was there should anything attack them.

"I'm going to need to pick you up now," Samus said, turning to look down at Zelda through her visor. "The only hatch into the ship is on top of it, and I don't think you can jump that high on your own."

"What? Do you honestly think you'd be able to jump that high if you're carrying me?"

Samus nodded. "You and Pikachu, technically. It's not a high jump for me, and you're both light."

There was something about the idea of having Samus pick her up and carry her to the top of the ship that made Zelda's pulse quicken. It wasn't that she didn't trust the bounty hunter. On the contrary, Samus had already proven herself to be on Zelda's side. But it was the realization that she would be so dependent on the hunter for simple things like jumping in and out of the ship. She was beginning to think she was going to end up being more of a burden than an asset on this trip.

"All right," Zelda said after a moment of thinking it over. She supposed she could have refused and cast Farore's Wind to transport herself to the top of the ship, but she was too tired and figured she would save any spell casting energy she had left for an emergency.

Samus regarded the princess silently for a moment before stepping forward and scooping her up into her arms. Zelda nearly gasped at how quick and fluid the movement was, especially for someone with a cannon for an arm. Pikachu grinned down at her from one of the bounty hunter's massive shoulders, and within seconds they were airborne.

Samus hopped at least fifteen feet into the air as though it took no effort at all, and she landed with the grace of a feline. Zelda wasn't jostled at all in either the jump or the perfectly executed landing, and she was still staring in awe at Samus as the bounty hunter placed her back down on her feet.

"Wow." Zelda looked past the bounty hunter and down to where they had just been standing on the ground.

Samus brushed off the comment, looking away from her. "It's the power suit. It just enhances my strength. It's nothing special."

Zelda wanted to say something as she thought back to the brief moment she had seen the hunter without her suit, remembering her extremely muscular looking thighs, but thought better of it. She wouldn't be surprised if Samus could have made that jump even without the armor. Something told her there was a good possibility that was the case considering the hunter must have wanted to be able to get on and off of her ship even if she wasn't wearing the armor.

"We'll both have to be on the platform to get inside." Samus gestured to what appeared to be a circular platform on the roof of the ship. A hologram appeared as she did so, and Zelda wondered what had created the three dimensional orange light figure.

As Samus stepped onto the platform, Zelda followed her, and as the hunter touched the hologram, the platform began to descend. It lowered them into a very small chamber, and Zelda stayed close to Samus as they stepped off. The walls were made of solid metal, and it was dark and cramped. Once they were off of it, the platform ascended back to the top of the ship, leaving them sealed within it.

 _"Adjusting pressure levels,"_ a synthetic female voice said, and Zelda could feel goosebumps on her arms. There was something creepy about it. _"Pressure stabilized. Cabin doors opening."_

There was the hissing sound of an airlock as the metal double doors opened in front of Samus and Zelda, allowing them to pass through. Samus began walking without a second thought, and Zelda followed close behind her. She had not expected the ship to be this claustrophobic.

The first room they entered was slightly larger but even colder and more sterile looking than the pressure chamber. There was a long steel table in the center with a variety of apparatuses hanging from the ceiling. On either side of the room were computer screen and instruments, and in one corner, there was what appeared to be a holding cell with a glass door, although Zelda was certain it was not actually glass. Something told her it was where Samus kept the prisoners she brought in.

"The medical bay," the bounty hunter said as she led Zelda through it without pausing. She didn't seem to want to elaborate on it any further, and Zelda didn't press the issue.

The next room Samus led her into was a bit warmer looking, although not much. It still had the same metal plated walls and floor, but there was a small kitchen-like area and a counter with barstools. Off to the side, there was what appeared to be a living room type area with a very geometric gray couch and some sort of large flat screen. Pikachu jumped excitedly off the hunter's shoulder and curled up in a little ball on the couch.

"Living quarters," the bounty hunter said and gestured over to two small doors on one wall. "Bathroom. Bedroom. There's only one bedroom so you can take it."

Zelda's surprise was evident as she looked at Samus. "It's your bedroom. I can sleep on the couch. It's fine."

The bounty hunter shook her head. "I don't mind. I usually sleep in the cockpit anyway. Besides, you must be exhausted. You really should go get some rest."

"I'm all right," the princess lied. "If you're staying up and sailing the ship, the least I can do is stay up and watch it take off."

Samus tilted her head curiously. "Sailing?"

"Well… you know. Whatever you call it when you're sailing the stars instead of the sea."

Samus made a noise that almost sounded like a laugh. "Piloting. I pilot the ship. But you can call it sailing if you want to."

Zelda could feel herself blushing. It did suddenly seem like a very silly way of referring to flying through space. She hoped her complete lack of familiarity with this type of thing wouldn't get too annoying for Samus.

"Don't be embarrassed," the hunter said, as though reading her mind. "I was the one who originally suggested cutting you open to take out the Triforce so I don't think anything you say will come anywhere near that level of stupid."

"Heh." Zelda couldn't help but smile at that. "Okay, that was a bit creepy and off-putting when you said that…"

"I'm really sorry about that, by the way."

"It's all right. Really. You didn't know what the Triforce was."

Samus paused for a moment. "I know I can be a bit… _off-putting_ in general, so I was really surprised when you insisted on coming with me."

Zelda wasn't sure what to say. Samus was certainly an unusual person, but the princess found her more intriguing than off-putting even if she was one of the more awkward people she had met. Still, there had always been a part of her that had wanted the chance to explore the stars, even if she had never imaged it were possible. It was the closest she would ever get to truly entering the realm of her goddesses.

"Anyway," Samus said when she realized Zelda wasn't planning on saying anything, "I'm going to head into the cockpit now and start up the ship. I need to make a few calls to some of my contact people and see if I can get any kind of lead on Ridley and Ganondorf. You go into the bedroom and get some sleep. I know you're exhausted."

"Do you ever sleep?" Zelda asked suddenly, taking Samus by surprise. "Or eat? Or any of those sorts of things?"

"Um… yes. Of course I do. I'm human…"

"I thought you said you were a Chozo? Is that a type of human in your world?"

"It's… kind of more like a type of bird. Like a bird person..."

Something clicked in Zelda's mind. "So the Chozo are like the Rito?"

"The what?"

"The Rito. They're a race of bird men in Hyrule. Could you be related to them?"

Samus shifted uncomfortably. "I wouldn't really know. It's possible, I guess. The Chozo had colonies all over the galaxy and some were… well, very different from others."

A chill ran down Zelda's spine at the inflection of Samus's voice when mentioned the "different" Chozo, and the princess had a feeling she shouldn't ask about that.

"Seriously," Samus said, sounding suddenly agitated, much to Zelda's surprise, "you need to go to sleep. The longer we wait here like this, the farther Ridley gets."

"Shouldn't you rest too, then?" the princess asked.

The bounty hunter just shook her head. "I couldn't sleep right now even if I wanted to."

"Oh…" Zelda wasn't sure what to say to that. She wondered if Samus was also pushing herself to stay awake and just how badly it bothered her that Ridley was loose out there. "I guess it makes sense if just one of us sleeps at a time anyway. Besides, I don't think Pikachu is going to stay up and play watch dog for us."

Both women looked over to where the mouse Pokémon was stretched out on the couch, one leg in the air as he snoozed.

Samus just looked at Zelda and nodded. "It's for the best."

"One question though… what do I have to do to get you out of that armored suit again?"

"Excuse me?" Samus sounded surprised.

Zelda grinned. "You know, what do I have to do to convince you to get out of that armor and slip into something a little more comfortable?"

Samus stared at her for a moment, the blank expression of the opaque visor somehow even more blank than usual. "This… hardly seems like the appropriate time for flirtation."

"Wait, what?" Zelda suddenly looked like Samus had slapped her across the face. Her cheeks were so red she looked downright feverish.

"Um… was that not what you were intending when you asked me to take off my suit and slip into something a little more comfortable?"

"I… what?" Zelda's blue eyes managed to grow even wider as the blush started to spread to her pointed Hylian ears. "Samus, you're a woman! How could I possibly be flirting with you?"

"Um…" The bounty hunter was at a loss for words.

"Unless… you're not actually a woman?"

"What?"

"I mean you are very tall and quite muscular…. Even Link's effeminate features used to get him mistaken for a girl sometimes…"

"I'm a woman!" Samus sounded as embarrassed as Zelda looked.

"Oh… okay." Zelda paused, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she might have just seriously insulted Samus. "But again, if you're a woman, how would I have been flirting with you?"

"I…" The bounty hunter just sounded exasperated as she stood, nearly frozen, staring at Zelda. "I… have to go into the cockpit."

"Samus?" Zelda called, but the bounty hunter ignored her as she disappeared through a metal hatch and it closed behind her. Zelda doubted she would be able to get through it to follow her.

The princess stood, suddenly alone, in the cold metal living quarters of Samus's ship. A thousand thoughts were racing through her mind but most of all, she just felt confused. She didn't mean to insult Samus, but somehow she had managed to do that and then insult her even more trying to backtrack.

She sighed as she turned to the door Samus had told her led to the bedroom. She didn't see any point in trying to stay awake any longer. She was exhausted and clearly no longer in control of the words coming out of her mouth. With a soft yawn, the princess opened the door and entered the bedroom.

Though she was not sure what she was expecting, it certainly was not what she walked into. It seemed odd to her to characterize a room as sad, but that's what this one was. As soon as she opened the door it was like she had busted up a dam and let a river of sadness spill out.

The room itself was tiny, and the bed, though large enough for two people, looked like it belonged in an army barrack rather than a bedroom. Its gray blanket was the same bleak color as the walls. There were a few articles of clothing strewn about the floor, but the most disturbing part was what was hanging from the walls.

There was nothing but shelf after shelf containing weapons that reminded Zelda of Samus's arm cannon, although they looked more like they were for people to hold in their hands rather than attach to their arms. The weapons had long barrels of all different sizes, shoulder stocks, and triggers not unlike those of a crossbow. Zelda didn't know what the strange weapons were, but Samus had a lot of them.

She sighed and trudged over to the bed. Her whole body felt heavy at this point. She wanted to go apologize for offending Samus but she was just too exhausted and doubted she would be able to say anything to make it better.

Climbing into bed, she looked around the colorless room once more. She didn't know how Samus could stand to live in such a dreary place and wondered if that was why the bounty hunter always slept in the cockpit.

The princess was not actually sure what a cockpit was but something told her it would be best not to assume it was a hole filled with roosters. There were just so many things about Samus's world that were different from her own. Maybe it wasn't unusual for two women to flirt with one another.

Zelda knew it happened even in Hyrule, but it was never spoken of in polite company. Men and women of that certain disposition did not fit in well with Hylian society.

A strange thought occurred to Zelda, and she found herself wondering if maybe Samus was a person of that sort of disposition. She did live in solitude and certainly didn't conform to the standards of what was expected of women in most societies unless women in Samus's world were like the Sheikah.

It was a very strange thought, but Zelda found herself very intrigued by the idea that Samus might have actually been one of those same-sex oriented women, and she had not been offended so much that she thought Zelda was flirting with her as she had been by Zelda's reaction to the idea of it. And then the whole asking her if she was secretly a man thing.

 _I think I'm officially winning the awkard and off-putting comment contest,_ the princess thought to herself as she lay in the bed and stared up at the ceiling.

She knew she shouldn't dwell on it, but there was something about the idea of Samus being one of _those_ women that she found very intriguing. Even more so when she thought about how Samus thought the princess had been flirting with her. It was a ridiculous thought, but it was one that occupied Zelda's mind until she was fast asleep and firmly resolved to make amends when she woke up.


	7. Ch 7: Like Bombay Sapphires

**Author's note:** Okay, a couple more characters you might recognize in this chapter. I'm less familiar with some games represented in the Smash Bros franchise than I am with others, so I hope I can do the characters at least some justice. Or at least make it amusing and an enjoyable story. I know this is quite the slow, slow burn romance, but I promise it will be a romance! I'm really trying! *laughs*

I'm not normally a romance writer, if you haven't noticed. But I'm trying my best!

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who is reading and taking a moment to review this story. Especially those of you who found your way here form my Metroid Series and my Pokemon Stories. It makes me so happy. Thank you so much. And as always, I super appreciate any and all feedback. Like I said, I don't write romance and this is my first attempt at writing a multi-chapter romance story. So really, it's all appreciated... Thank you.

 **Chapter 7: Like Bombay Sapphires**

Samus felt like slamming her head into her ship's dash when she walked into the cockpit and sat down in her pilot's chair. She could feel her face still red with embarrassment as she checked to make sure the door had locked behind her. She was starting to think bringing Zelda along was a mistake, or rather, an even bigger mistake than she had originally thought it was.

 _Stupid,_ she thought to herself as she punched in a few codes on the holoscreens around the forward window. _Of course she wasn't hitting on you._

As the ship roared to life, Samus took a deep breath and deactivated her power suit. With a glow of light, the armor dematerialized around her body, leaving only the human-looking woman in its place.

The air of the cabin felt cool and strange on her now-exposed flesh, and the mending wound on the back of her shoulder stung, but Samus paid those things no mind. She was used to that feeling of adjusting to being out of the armor. Instead, she focused on piloting the ship up and out of the planet's atmosphere, far enough into space to where she could switch on the autopilot. When that was done, she leaned her elbows on the dash and hung her head in her hands.

She still couldn't get past how awkward she had been back in the cabin. She should have known better that Zelda would not be flirting with her. She was a princess and probably had dozens of suitors lined up to take her hand for political reasons. Plus there was no way she's be interested in a woman like Samus, let alone a woman period.

It was a strange thing, but unless people pointed it out, the bounty hunter frequently forgot about her sex or the fact that it would ever be considered relevant to anything. She had been more or less spayed at such a young age and raised by alien bird men that it had simply never mattered. The fact that humans generally preferred flirtation and relationships with the opposite sex also frequently slipped her mind. After all, she had been raised by two fathers and in the limited intimate interactions she had in her own life, she had never thought twice about the fact that she preferred them to be with other women.

Not that Samus had much in the way of experience with intimate relationships. She had taken a brief interest in another girl when they had served in the Federation Army together, and then there was her downright toxic relationship with that Jovian bounty hunter a few years back, but nothing truly romantic.

 _Is that why you brought her on your ship?_ Samus asked herself as she groaned. _And is that why you've been making such an ass out of yourself, letting Ridley break through your armor and escape? You're pathetic…_

There was a part of her that felt dirty thinking that she might feel that way about Zelda. After all, the King had permitted the bounty hunter to stay in the princess's chambers rather than the barracks based solely on her sex. Had he known about her same-sex preference, he might have thought twice. Not that it mattered. Samus knew she would never do anything with someone like Zelda. A bounty hunter who lived out of her ship had no business taking an interest in a royal.

Slowly, she got up from her chair and turned to a metal cabinet behind her. She input a few codes, and one of the drawers opened, revealing her first aid supplies. Samus went through the motions of cleaning and dressing her wound as she found her mind wandering to how Zelda's magic might have healed it. Perhaps she should have let the princess try, but the thought of anyone coming close enough to her without the power suit to touch her bare skin, particularly somewhere she was injured, made her chest tighten and her hair stand on end.

Vulnerability was not something with which Samus dealt well. The couple of minutes she had allowed Zelda to see her without her armor had been tense and difficult. She didn't like feeling exposed like that, like anything could come up and attack her at any time. Her human flesh was so soft and easy to tear through compared to the armor. She felt naked without her suit.

It hadn't been so bad in the old days. Back when she had been in the Army she spent most of her time out of her armor. Even when she had taken a few missions early in her career. It wasn't until her first mission to Zebes when she had been shot down and forced to infiltrate the Space Pirate Mothership unarmed that she had started to notice a difference. The more time she spent in her power suit now, the more anxiety she felt without it, even on her ship.

She looked down at her body. The leather tank top and shorts weren't exactly helping that feeling of being naked, but most clothes didn't. Objectively, she knew her body was hard and muscular and that she was extremely strong, but she still hated to look at it. To her, it wasn't enough. Without the power suit, her body was soft and weak as any organic life form, and it terrified her.

Slipping off her boots, she began undressing. Once she was naked, she pulled a clean set of undergarments and a full body flight suit from another draw. The bodysuit was mostly light blue but there were some dark blue lines and patches that ran through it. There were pink Chozo symbols on the back of her left hand and over her left breast close to her heart. There was also a bright pink pattern on the back, a sort of Chozo-styled sunburst.

The jumpsuit might not have been anywhere near as good as her power suit, but it at least had some energy shielding it could generate to deflect light damage. Even though she had no intention of fighting in the jumpsuit alone, she still holstered her handgun to her right thigh.

She was about to go into the cabin and check on Pikachu when she heard an alert on her dash begin to beep. It was only a message notification and not an alarm, so it only startled her a little bit. Messages were pretty rare unless they were from her main contact at the Galactic Federation, so it surprised her when she saw the sender's ID come up on the holoscreen: DJF.

The bounty hunter rolled her eyes.

 _What does that asshole want?_ she thought to herself as she sat back down in her seat and opened the message. It was unusually short for the normally verbose Captain.

 _Sam,_

 _I've come across something that might be of interest to you. Meet me at our usual spot in Port Town. Come alone. Make sure you can pay up. You'll want this._

 _Doug_

Samus supposed the letter was worded ominously enough that it should have concerned her, but she had known Doug for a long time, and he was more bark than bite. She knew there was nothing he could hold hostage from her given that the only two beings in the world she cared about protecting were here on the ship with her. But even if they weren't, Doug wasn't the type to hold anyone hostage, but he was exactly the type to make her pay for any leads he might be able to offer her on bounties.

Most bounty hunters weren't nearly as well equipped as Samus was, so they were limited in the missions they could take. They often made a few easy bucks, however, by selling information about the more dangerous bounties to big time hunters like Samus. Normally she wouldn't mind paying up since Doug usually had some pretty juicy leads, but she was a bit preoccupied with the whole Seven Wonders thing at the moment.

Still, she it wasn't like she had any leads on those at the moment. It couldn't hurt. Shooting him a quick message back, she rerouted her ship's course to his planet. She'd been to Port Town before, and while she wasn't crazy about it, it wasn't too far out of her way.

It didn't take long to get there, and Samus found it pretty easily. The city was home to one of the largest spacecraft harbors in this quadrant of the galaxy, so it was easy to find somewhere secure to dock her ship. The city itself was a huge center for intergalactic trade, though its denizens were mostly human. Massive skyscrapers made up its skyline, and Samus was careful to avoid flying too low before making it to her destination.

Once the ship was all docked, she activated her power suit once again. Douglas Falcon may have been a useful informant, but Samus had never allowed him to see her face. Like many of her contacts, he didn't even know she was a human, let alone a woman, and she was happy to keep it that way.

She walked quietly through the cabin of the ship, not wanting to wake Pikachu who was still asleep on the couch. She figured Zelda would be out cold for a bit longer in the bedroom, so she made her way to her ship's hatch without bothering to leave so much as a note.

Doug always wanted to meet her in the same spot, a crappy little dive bar in the former restaurant district. He thought it helped them keep a low profile, but at this point Samus was pretty sure her armor was distinct enough that most humans would know who she was at first glace.

She was just making her way out of the hanger when a gust of wind suddenly whipped past her, and Princess Zelda herself appeared with a flash of green light.

"Just where do you think you're going without me?" the princess demanded. She looked like she had just woken up given how glassy her eyes were and the fact that there were still sheet marks pressed into one side of her face.

Samus ignored her question. "How did you get off the ship?"

"You answer me first." The princess looked annoyed as she glared at Samus. "Don't tell me you were trying to go after Ganon and Ridley without me. You know we're supposed to be in this together! I don't need you treating me like I'm made of glass, Samus. I have plenty of powerful magic."

The bounty hunter sighed. It had not even crossed her mind that Zelda might think she was omitting her from their shared mission. "I got a message from someone I've gotten information from in the past. He wanted to meet at a bar in this city. I don't have any leads on where Ganon and Ridley are, so I figured I would just follow up with this guy. I didn't bother to wake you because you seemed tired and you wouldn't be any use in this anyway."

Zelda frowned. "I still don't appreciate being left behind."

Samus looked her up and down. "You're going to stick out around here like a sore thumb in that getup."

The princess looked down at her fancy lavender dress with its elaborately embroidered sash and back over to Samus. "Okay, maybe I'll look a little out of place, but unless everyone is running around in golden armor with cannons for an arm, I don't think you should be one to talk about blending in."

"Whatever." Samus brushed off Zelda's comment as she turned to walk away from the ship and out of the hangar. "Just try to follow my lead and don't say anything unless you have to. The only thing people around here know about me is my name, and there's no lack of predators who would take advantage of a girl like you who's never been to a big city before."

Zelda frowned, but she followed close behind Samus anyway. "I did grow up in Castle Town, you know."

The bounty hunter couldn't help but snicker under her helmet as they stepped out of the space harbor building and into the streets of Port Town. Samus didn't think Zelda's eyes could get any wider as she looked around and stared up at the massive glimmering skyscrapers. There were buildings dozens of times higher than Hyrule Castle, some as high as Death Mountain, and various other buildings that were shaped like pyramids.

"Remind you of Castle Town?" Samus asked with a glance down at the princess.

Zelda's mouth was slightly agape, as she looked over to Samus. She was speechless.

"Like I said," Samus said as she extended her left hand to the princess, "stay close to me. This place is crowded and dangerous, and I don't want to know what will happen to you if we get separated."

Zelda hesitated but eventually took Samus's hand in her own as the bounty hunter lead the way down a series of streets and winding alleys. All of the buildings looked so similar from the ground level that the princess wondered how Samus even knew where she was going. The whole place was making her dizzy.

Eventually, they stopped outside of a seedy-looking little pub, and Samus dropped her hand. Zelda noticed the bounty hunter's posture stiffen as the automatic door opened and the two of them walked into the bar. It was a dark, musty sort of place. Low music played in the background, and the few patrons there were speaking in hushed voices. Zelda followed as Samus made her way over to a lone figure sitting on one of the bar stools and looking their way.

Douglas J. Falcon, or "Captain" Falcon as he was known to the locals, was a tall man with a moderately muscular build. He wore of navy blue jumpsuit with flamboyantly red boots and a matching helmet. The lower half of his face was visible, but the top half was obscured by the helmet's dark visor.

"Samus Aran!" he boomed a bit too loudly to fit in with the atmosphere of the sketchy dive. "I can't believe you actually showed up here so quickly!"

"Greetings, Doug," Samus replied in her typical stoic tone. Zelda noticed she was using the voice synthesizers again to artificially deepen her voice.

"And who do we have here?" he asked, looking the princess up and down without a hint of subtly. "Some Renaissance Faire escapee?"

"Ignore her," Samus said, aggressively taking a seat on one of the bar stools between Captain Falcon and Zelda.

"Kinda hard to ignore a woman with a build like that," Falcon said, grinning Zelda's way. "How about once we're done with this walking hunk of metal over here, you and I go back to my place and show each other our moves, if you know what I mean?"

Samus slammed her fist on the bar loud enough to make everyone in the bar jump, including Zelda and Falcon.

"I didn't come here for you womanizing crap, Doug," she said, the anger obvious in her tone. "That woman is with me, and I better not catch your sorry ass looking at her like that again or I'll be beating more than just information out of you."

Falcon looked from Samus to Zelda and shrugged. "This is the first time I've seen Samus bring a lady-friend around these parts, and I hope he treats you a lot better than he treats the rest of us. Didn't know the bucket of bolts even had those kinds of desires."

"Doug!" Samus snapped. "Focus! Leave the woman out of this! What the hell were you going on about in your message you sent me? What do you have?"

"Hmph." The other bounty hunter shook his head before reaching down under the table and pulling up a black messenger bag with a red bird symbol that matched his helmet. "That a look at what I've got in my Falcon Bag!"

Samus arched an eyebrow as she watched him produce a glass cylinder containing a small creature she had never seen before. It was round and pink with stubby little arms. It had almost comical facial features on its body/head with large round red feet.

"Poyo!" it called, opening its mouth wide and waving its stumpy arms.

Samus's face was blank as she stared at the little pink puffball that looked like it had come out of some kind of cartoon. "What the hell is that thing?"

"I don't know," Captain Falcon replied. "There were no entries on it in my Falcon Database. I won it off of some big blue chicken-looking thing when I got him drunk and kicked his ass in poker."

Samus pressed her face closer to the glass, and the pink creature instantly opened its mouth to a freakish size and began sucking in the air around it.

"What's it doing?" she asked.

"Heck if I know." Falcon shrugged. "Blue Chicken King told me it's some kind of weird species that literally ingests other organisms and incorporates their traits into itself. It's so freaky and ridiculous, I didn't know what to do with this thing, and figured you might have some use for it."

"You want me to buy some freaky alien gumball from you?" Samus asked, her face halfway between deadpan and disgusted. "You've called me for a lot of dumb stuff over the years, Doug, but this is the dumbest thing yet."

He gave Samus an annoyed look. "If you'd get over yourself, Aran, and wait one lousy Falcon Minute, I could have told you that this was not all I'm offering."

Samus groaned. "Then hurry it up already! I'm kind of a busy person."

"Impatient to get back to making sweet robo-love to your lady friend?"

Zelda turned a deep shade of scarlet as Samus made a sound like a growl.

"Tell me what you've got, Doug, before I dice your ass up and turn you into an order of Falcon Nuggets!"

Captain Falcon frowned. "Now that's just plain rude. But fine. I'll let you and the lady get back to it soon." He reached into his bag and pulled out something wrapped in a dirty red bandana. As he opened it up, even Samus's eyes widened as she stared at the object within.

It was a blue orb, a deep cerulean sphere that seemed to reflect images from some other world. Samus could make out trees with faces and other ridiculously cute things that looked like they almost definitely came from the same planet as the pink thing in the glass cylinder.

 _One of the Seven Wonders,_ Samus thought to herself as she and Zelda shared a glance. She was not sure how Captain Falcon had come across it, let alone the blue chicken he had supposedly beaten in a card game, but she knew she had to have it.

"That's it?" she asked, disinterested. "It's a pretty ornament, but I don't know what you're expecting me to do with it."

"Don't try to pretend you're not interested, Aran," he said with a smugness that had not been present in his voice earlier. "I know you want this thing, because the Chicken King got wasted and spilled the beans. This blue ball is a hot item. Rumor on the street is your buddies, the Space Pirates, have been out searching for it. Their leader's got a hefty bounty on it, and I'd wager you'd be willing to pay double just to make sure he doesn't get his hands on it."

Samus frowned. Of course it was no coincidence that he had called her of all people. He knew she'd want anything Ridley was after.

"How much is the Space Pirate leader offering?"

"One million space-bucks," Flacon said with a devilish grin, and Samus's frown deepened.

"I'm not paying you a million credits."

"I didn't say you were. I said that's what he was offering. I expect your counter offer to be worth forgoing his bounty."

Samus's frown deepened. "I'll give you a hundred thousand credits."

"Come on, Aran. You know this thing is more valuable than that. If your buddy Ridley is offering a million then—"

"Then selling it to him makes you no better than a Space Pirate." Samus's voice was deathly serious. "And that's more than enough to land your Falcon Ass on my hit-list. So let me make you one more offer, Doug. I pay you fifty thousand credits, and I don't kill you or turn you in for treason and corroborating with enemies of the Galactic Federation."

Captain Falcon stared deeply into her visor, his mouth set in a tight, narrow line. "Fine. Fifty thousand. And you don't speak a word of this to anyone."

"As long as you don't try to pull another stunt like this, no one needs to know, but if you ever try to extort money from me again and cooperate with the Pirates, I won't be so lenient."

Samus roughly snatched the blue orb from his hand before passing it back to Zelda. The princess held it silently as Samus grabbed the cylinder containing the pink creature as well.

"I'll wire the credits to you when I get back to my ship," she said, her arm cannon angled ever so slightly toward Falcon as though to warn him not to try anything.

He didn't say anything as Samus nodded to Zelda, and the two of them turned and left the bar. Out in the busy streets once more, Zelda took hold of the bounty hunter's arm and held on tight until they made it back to her ship. Zelda was getting ready to let Samus if her up again when the hunter stopped.

"Hold on," Samus said. "Wait here for a second."

Zelda watched as the bounty hunter walked away, carrying the cylinder with the pink creature inside of it. When she was out of earshot of the princess, Samus knelt down on one knee and removed the top of the cylinder.

"Get out of here, little guy," Samus said softly. "Thanks for being a Guardian for one of the Wonders as long as you have, but we can take it from here. I promise, I won't let it fall into the wrong hands again."

The creature stared at her for a few seconds before nodding its body/head and smiling at her.

"POYO!" it cried as it jumped up and out of its cylinder before turning and running away. Samus didn't know where it was going, but she knew it didn't deserve to be confined like that.

Blinking tiredly, she stood up and turned back toward where Zelda was waiting for her. The princess was staring at her with an unreadable expression as she still clutched the blue orb tied up in the red bandana. She didn't say anything as Samus approached.

"Do you mind if I pick you up again?" Samus asked, and to her surprise, the princess smiled softly.

"You know you really are something else, Samus Aran."

"What?"

Zelda shook her head. "Nothing. Just ignore that I said anything. Yes, you can pick me up again. I don't mind."

As she had done before, Samus scooped Zelda up into her arms effortlessly and leapt onto the top of her ship. She carried the princess bridal-style all the way back into the cabin where she gently placed her on her feet.

"I'm sorry. I really wasn't expecting that message to have anything to do with our mission," Samus said, looking away from where Zelda was.

"What do you mean?"

"You were upset because you thought I was cutting you out of our mission. I really didn't know Captain Falcon of all people was going to be in possession of one of the Wonders. I'm sorry I didn't include you."

"Oh, that…" Zelda shook her head. "I understand. I don't care about that anymore, and I'm sorry too… for earlier. When I upset you and you went into the cockpit and…"

Samus put up a hand to stop the princess. "It's fine. Whatever. I should have known better than to think you were trying to flirt with me. That was a dumb conclusion for me to have jumped to."

"It wasn't dumb," Zelda said softly. "I guess that did kind of come across wrong… asking you to take off your suit. I guess sometimes I just don't get how easily things like that can be misinterpreted. And I shouldn't have assumed that just because you're a woman you weren't… well, one of _those_ women."

"Those women?"

The princess fidgeted uncomfortably. "I don't know how to explain it without coming across wrong, but I don't know if you're one of those women who is… less fond of the companionship of men… if that makes sense."

"Are you asking if I'm a lesbian?"

"I mean… I'm really sorry if that offends you." Zelda looked like she was at a loss for words. "Really, I don't mean to accuse you of anything, but if you are one of those women who is more oriented towards other women… well, I just wanted to let you know I don't have a problem with that."

Samus wasn't sure what to say. Her mouth felt dry, and her face felt hot. "I mean… that wouldn't upset you or make you uncomfortable?"

Zelda shook her head. "I'm… well, it's not what I'm used to, but if that's how you are, Samus, I don't have any fear that you're going to try to take advantage of me or anything. You've never done anything to make me uncomfortable, and you defended me when that creepy falcon guy was trying to hit on me. And from everything I've seen of you, even if we've only known each other a short while, you go out of your way to protect all creatures smaller and weaker than yourself, and I just think that's really noble of you."

The bounty hunter didn't say anything for a moment.

"However you are, Samus," Zelda continued, "I just want to let you know I'm okay, and I'm sorry if I led you to believe differently earlier."

"Well," Samus said eventually, her mouth still feeling dry, "you're right."

Zelda nodded quietly. "I respect that."

Samus didn't say anything, but she breathed a silent sigh of relief. She didn't know why it was so important to her that Zelda accept this arbitrary detail about her life, but for some reason it made her feel a little more at ease.


	8. Ch 8: Planets of the Universe

**Author's note:** Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and comment on the last chapter! I really appreciate feedback, especially given that this is my first multi chapter romance. I hope you're enjoying the story so far. And yes, we got to see two more Smash heroes last chapter. lol. Enjoy!

 **Chapter 8: Planets of the Universe**

The Orb of Light and the Orb of Water sat side by side in the compact holding chamber in the ship's cabin. Zelda stared quietly at them, hoping Samus would not walk in and catch her.

The longer she stared at the two Wonders in their possession, the more certain she became that she had made a mistake. She didn't see any way the Triforce could have possibly been one of the Wonders. It didn't make any sense. It wasn't an orb, for one thing, and it was divided between three people. It didn't fit with the other Wonders at all. Part of Zelda had known it from the start.

So why had she been so insistent on coming with Samus? The question was eating away at her, and she was thankful for the moment alone while the bounty hunter was in the cockpit with Pikachu. Was it that she was so desperate to believe that the goddesses had given her another quest? Or was she simply looking for an excuse to escape Hyrule and her royal duties?

She thought of Link, not just how he was now but also how he had been on that alternate timeline so many years ago. When he had been the Hero of Time, and they had worked together to defeat Ganon before traveling back through time to their childhoods. The two of them remembered everything, but they were the only ones. Up until now, she had only ever shared that story with Impa. She doubted anyone else would believe her, but she found herself wondering if Samus would.

The thought was ridiculous. The whole situation was ridiculous. She had given up everything and left behind her kingdom to tag along with some bounty hunter. She had even had the audacity to justify her actions by claiming it was what the goddesses wanted her to do, but that was just an excuse so she could… what? What was she really hoping to accomplish here in space? Alone with no one but Samus?

One thing was certain though. Even if her Triforce didn't end up being one of the Wonders, she still needed to stop Ganondorf, and she didn't know if Samus would be able to do that without magic. Defeating Ganon wasn't as simple as merely destroying his body. His power needed to be sealed away as it had been before Ridley came to Hyrule.

The princess nearly jumped when she heard the hatch to the cockpit open and saw Samus step out, Pikachu perched on her shoulder once more.

"I didn't mean to startle you," Samus said through her helmet. There was still a slight synthetic quality to it, but it sounded more or less like her normal voice.

Zelda shook her head, not sure how to feel about the thoughts racing through her mind. "It's all right. I just kind of zoned out for a minute. How are you doing, Samus?"

The bounty hunter ignored her question. "We're on route to a planet called Daiban. It's the capitol of the Galactic Federation, and there's someone I'm meeting with there. I'm hoping he can give me some insights on the other four Wonders."

"Oh." Zelda thought about it for a moment, not sure what a Galactic Federation was but figuring Daiban was probably the outer space equivalent of Castle Town. "Any leads on where Ganon and Ridley might be?"

Samus shook her head. "Negative. They must be using some kind of cloaking technology. It's like they just completely vanished. Have you been in touch with Link at all to see how your planet is doing?"

Zelda blinked. "In touch?"

"Yeah… have you spoken to him at all? Call? Text?"

Zelda stared blankly at the bounty hunter. "Is this a space thing?"

Samus just stared back at her through the visor. "I take it your people haven't invented phones yet?"

"Link is on a different planet, Samus. The royal messengers are efficient, but they can't transcend into the sky."

"But like…" Samus paused. "Can't you just… _magic_? Or something?"

"Magic…?"

"Like talk to each other magically through the Triforces they installed in you? Or telepathy?"

Zelda was at a loss for words as she looked at the armor-clad warrior. "I take it your people have something a bit more advanced than carrier pigeons."

"I just assumed you had some way of keeping an eye on your kingdom."

The princess closed her eyes for a moment and focused her energy on the Triforce symbol on her right hand. She took a deep breath and held her concentration for a moment before opening her eyes to see Samus and Pikachu staring curiously at her.

"There's no disturbance in the energy of the Triforce…" She could feel her cheeks growing red as Pikachu and the bounty hunter continued to stare at her. "I don't sense anything amiss on Link's end. But I mean… at this distance, I don't know that I would be able to sense anything at all."

"So you can talk to Link?"

"No… not exactly. But I can sense his energy if that makes any sense…"

"It does," Samus said quietly. "I don't know much of your kind of energy manipulation, but the Chozo had a lot of energy-based technology. It wasn't magic but I guess it was kind of spiritual in a way... so I still might not understand your powers, but I can kind of conceptualize it. A little."

Zelda smiled, relief washing over her that Samus seemed all right with her explanation and was even attempting to relate to it. "Maybe our worlds are not so different after all."

Samus snorted with laughter. "I wouldn't go that far."

Zelda didn't say anything. There was a part of her that would have preferred to believe that their worlds were even a little more similar than Samus made them sound. The idea of arriving at the capitol of the Galactic Federation was less frightening if she could imagine it was like Castle Town.

"Are you okay?" Samus asked suddenly, and the princess looked up. "You seem distracted. Did you get enough sleep?"

"Oh… no. That's probably why I'm a bit… off." She frowned. "I don't know how you get used to not having a sun. It's so disorienting."

"I get that," Samus replied, much to Zelda's surprise. "I grew up on a planet so when I started going into space for longer and longer periods of time, it was hard to get used to."

"That's right. You grew up on that planet Ridley destroyed."

Samus seemed to freeze, her face invisible behind her visor. "No… I don't really remember that one. Aside from the murders and all."

"Oh."

There was an awkward silence as Zelda and Samus looked away from each other. Zelda could feel her face turning beet-red and wished she knew what Samus's face looked like under that helmet. She hadn't meant to bring up bad memories, but perhaps she should have thought of that before casually asking about the time Samus's family had been murdered. For someone who was supposed to wield the Triforce of Wisdom, she wasn't feeling too smart at the moment.

"We should be landing soon," Samus said as she turned to walk back to the cockpit.

"Samus, wait—" Zelda lunged forward before she realized what she was doing and grabbed the bounty hunter's left hand. The way Samus's body tensed felt like the princess had really surprised her. "I'm sorry. Really. I didn't mean to bring that up. I shouldn't have—"

But Samus shook off her hand and brushed off her comment. "I'm fine. It was a long time ago. I don't need you feeling sorry for me. Besides, I need to go fly the ship."

She walked off into the cockpit, sealing the hatch behind her as Zelda was once again left alone in the cabin.

The princess threw herself onto the couch with a frustrated groan. She was so tired she could barely form coherent enough thoughts to beat herself up over what had just happened. In fact, it wasn't long before she fell asleep, completely oblivious to the passage of time.

She didn't wake up until she heard the hatch open and saw Samus step out into the cabin. At first, she was confused about where she was, but she quickly remembered and realized they must have landed already given the lack of noise from the ship.

"Samus?" she asked drowsily, looking up at the bounty hunter. One thing she noticed immediately was that Samus had somehow made her visor transparent and she could now see the hunter's eyes staring at her through it.

"Oh good," Samus said in her actual voice. "You did get some sleep."

Zelda yawned as she sat up and attempted to smooth out her ruffled hair and dress. "How long was I out?"

"A few hours."

The princess stood and stretched, wishing she had a mirror to see what state her hair might be in. Between all of the chaos of the past two days and sleeping on it, it probably looked awful.

"I'm meeting with General Malkovich," Samus said, thrusting a set of clothes in Zelda's direction. "I figured you would want to come with me so I got you something to wear that would be less conspicuous. It might be a little big for you though."

Zelda took the clothes and looked them over. Her first thought was to object and point out that they were men's clothes, but something told her that the gender norms for clothing were probably different in Samus's world than her own. Perhaps women in this world didn't even wear dresses. She wasn't sure how she would classify the blue shirt and shorts she had seen Samus wearing when she had briefly taken off her armor.

"Thank you, Samus." She smiled at the bounty hunter, still feeling a bit uneasy about the whole clothing situation. She wondered just how inconspicuous they would be able to look with the hunter running around in a suit of golden orange armor. "Do you mind if I go into the bedroom to change?"

"Not at all," the bounty hunter replied, politely gesturing toward the room.

It didn't take Zelda long to change into the clothes once she was in the bedroom, although it was a bit confusing. There was a pair of pants made out of some kind of heavy blue fabric she had never seen before. The button at the top of them seemed familiar enough to her, but it took her a moment to figure out the zipper below it. They must have been Samus's pants because they were much too big on the princess, and she had to cuff up the bottoms several times just so she wouldn't trip on them.

The top was also bizarre compared to what Zelda was accustomed too. It was a small black thing with the word "Army" on it. The sleeves only covered her shoulders, and it was baggy all over. She didn't know why a bounty hunter would have an army shirt, and wondered if she should even be wearing it at all given that she didn't want anyone, least of all a General, to think she was impersonating someone in the army.

The last article of clothing, however, was the most bizarre thing the princess had ever seen. She just didn't know what to make of it. It seemed to be two large fabric cups attached by a stretchy band. There were straps of some sort, and each end of the main band had hooks on it. She wasn't sure if the straps were for arm holes or leg holes and wondered if maybe this unique clothing item was for some foreign Chozo part she didn't possess.

The princess decided not to worry about it as she neatly folded it and left it on Samus's bed. Whatever it was probably wasn't important. When she opened the door and walked out into the main cabin, she was surprised to see Samus standing there without her armor. Instead, the bounty hunter was just wearing a tight blue jump suit that had several pink alien symbols.

Zelda was taken aback by the sight of it. She had seen Samus without armor before, but it had only been for a moment. She had not been expecting to see Samus without her suit again so soon, and she was once again struck by just how tall and muscular the mercenary was. Her silky blonde hair was much neater this time, tied back in a red hair band, and there was just something so striking about her. Her powerful form combined with the sharpness of her eyes gave her a uniquely strong but feminine appearance.

"Sorry if the clothes are kind of big," Samus said as she saw Zelda coming out of the bedroom. "They were from when I was in the Army years ago so I figured they might fit you better than my current stuff."

Zelda made a mental note of the fact that Samus had been in the military at some point and wondered what had transpired to cause her to leave and become a solitary mercenary. She figured, however, that it was a question for a later time.

"They're a bit baggy," the princess said instead, "but they're oddly comfortable. But you don't think anyone will mistake me for being in the army if I'm wearing one of its uniform shirts?"

Samus raised her eyebrows in an unintentionally comedic manner as she looked the princess up and down. "That's not a uniform shirt. You're just wearing a tee shirt and jeans. No one will mistake you for being in the army."

Zelda figured jeans must have been the kind of pants she was wearing. "All right then. Should we go to see the General now?"

The bounty hunter just nodded and led the way to the exit hatch. As the platform raised them up to the top of the ship, Zelda wondered how Samus would be able to get them both down if she wasn't wearing her power suit to enhance her strength. Her questions were quickly answered, however, when she felt the bounty hunter sweep her off of her feet and take her into her arms. Samus carried the princess bridal-style and leapt down from the ship as easily as she did when she had been wearing her armor.

"Oh!" Zelda exclaimed unintentionally, as they landed on the ground and Samus lowered the princess to her feet.

"What's wrong?" the bounty hunter asked, concern flashing across her face.

But Zelda shook her head. "Nothing… I just wasn't expecting that."

Samus tilted her head curiously. "That's how I've been getting you on and off the ship this whole time."

"Yes, but you were always wearing your armor before. I didn't realize… you're very strong even without it." She doubted even Link could have done what Samus just did.

The bounty hunter looked away quickly, the pink hue of embarrassment rising into her cheeks even though she was trying hard to hide it.

"I mean," Samus began, her voice clearly sounding flustered, "I can't just depend on my suit for everything…"

Zelda was about to ask if Samus had ever gone into battle without her armor, but she got distracted when she realized what a massive room they were in. The floor and walls were mostly metal, but there was one massive wall behind the ship that looked almost like a glass double door that opened from a horizontal point strip down the middle.

"It's a ship hangar," Samus said as she saw the princess looking around in amazement. "It's a bit bigger than I need for my ship, but mine's only really designed for one person so it's a bit smaller than most. This is a sort of pay-to-park kind of place. Think about it like a post they charge you money to hitch a horse to for a few hours while you're visiting somewhere."

Zelda grinned as she tried to picture anyone charging money to let a visitor tie a horse to a post. It seemed like such a ridiculous concept, but then again, horses didn't take up nearly as much space as ships did. And if Samus's was small, she could only imagine what some of the larger ones looked like.

The bounty hunter led them out of the hangar and through a series of halls. Eventually, she opened a door that led out of the building and onto a busy street. The moment she stepped outside, Zelda was completely overwhelmed by the city around her. There were people, humans and human-like creatures and every other sort of thing imaginable, rushing to and fro through the streets. Mini versions of space ships flew around, sometimes as low as only a few feet above their heads. Steel and glass buildings dominated the landscape, making it impossible to see beyond the street across from them. The structures stretched so high they looked like they were practically touching the sky. Intense smells and loud noises assaulted her senses. Even Port Town seemed tame compared to Daiban.

The whole chaotic scene was so overwhelming it was starting to make Zelda dizzy. It wasn't until she felt Samus take her hand and begin leading her through the streets that she started to get her bearings. The bounty hunter had been right; this was nothing like Castle Town. It was nothing like anywhere Zelda had ever been.

Unlike the last time she had taken Zelda's hand, Samus wasn't wearing her armor. Without it, the bounty hunter's hand felt a lot smaller and actually human rather than mechanical. Zelda could feel the warmth from Samus's skin even through the fibers of her jump suit, and she felt so thankful for that warmth keeping her grounded in the moment as the chaos of the city swirled around her. She was so glad to have the hunter there, confidently leading them through the crowd. Samus seemed every bit as invincible without her armor right now as she did with it.

The bounty hunter didn't slow down until they reached a slightly shorter but more formal looking building. As they stepped through the golden revolving doors and into what appeared to be a massive lobby, a few people turned to look at them, but in general, most of the building's occupants went about their own business without paying any mind to the princess and the bounty hunter.

Samus released Zelda's hand, but the princess still followed close to her as they walked down a long corridor. It seemed overly formal and had a stuffy sort of smell to it. The walls had dark wooden chair height moldings, and red carpet lined the floor. Stately portraits of humanoid creatures in all manner of military attire hung on the walls, seeming to stare at them as they waked past. Zelda thought this building was probably the closest thing Samus's world had to a castle.

It wasn't long before they reached a door with a golden plate at its center inscribed with the name "General Adam Malkovich." Samus didn't even bother knocking before reaching for the knob and letting herself in.

A tired-looking man in formal military dress looked up from where he had been hunched over a large wooden desk sorting through a series of holoscreens. He removed his reading glasses as he looked up in surprise.

"Good afternoon, Lady," he said in a calm but commanding voice. "I wasn't expecting to see you here so soon."

"Hey Adam," Samus said, leading Zelda into the room and gesturing for her to sit in one of the two chairs across the desk from the man.

Adam was a tall man, and it was obvious even as he was sitting. He might have even been taller than Samus, Zelda realized as she saw them sitting across from one another. He looked to be roughly in his fifties with dark coal-colored hair streaked with gray. His face was stoic and serious-looking, although not unattractive, and it was as clean-shaven as his clothes were sharply pressed.

"We need to talk about the Seven Wonders," Samus said, leaning forward with her elbows on his desk. "And Ridley. Ridley's back."

"I see." The General didn't seem particularly shocked to hear the news. "And who is your new friend?"

Samus looked over to the princess. "That's Zelda. She has a triangle inside of her somewhere, and it's probably one of the Wonders. There was a dead wizard on her planet who somehow joined up with Ridley and now they're flying around together somewhere in the galaxy looking for the rest of the Wonders."

Adam looked exasperated as he rested an elbow on his desk and put his hand to his forehead. "I'm afraid I can't really follow when you phrase it like that, Lady. Evil wizards and triangles don't mean much to me, and I've been up since yesterday working on the casualty reports from your Aether contract with the Marines."

The bounty hunter sighed, but she took a deep breath and began recounting the story from the beginning. Zelda couldn't help but smile as she noticed how much effort Samus was putting into making it a detailed and coherent tale. There was something cute about the way Adam seemed to be gently coaxing her into sticking to the facts and not getting derailed on tangents about Ridley or Zelda's "triangles." When at last she was finished, Samus seemed quite relieved, and Zelda thought she might have caught the ghost of a smile flashing across Adam's face, but it was gone before she could be sure.

"So you have an orb of Light and an orb of Water?" Adam clarified as Samus nodded. "But you think that Zelda's Triforce might be a Wonder as well despite not being an orb?"

"I'm not really sure," Samus admitted. "It's a different shape but it seems deeply connected to her world's energy. But the undead wizard also has a piece of it in him, and so does the elf man, so it's not united right now."

The bounty hunter yawned, earning an eyebrow raise from the General. It surprised Zelda a bit as well given that Samus had been awake and on the hunt for days now without showing any signs of fatigue other than the ever-present dark circles under her eyes.

"Regardless," Adam continued, "even if it's not like the other Wonders, I'm sure the Triforce is significant. I've seen it in a book at some point… _Hyrule, A History._ " He gestured over to a bookshelf behind him that contained a few rows of actual leather bound tomes. "It's an old book, obviously, and I'm sure some information is outdated, but it's one of the only major works about that planet in the Federation's database."

Zelda's eye widened, and her long ears twitched slightly. "You know about Hyrule?"

The General nodded as he turned to face the princess. "Though it's been centuries since the Federation has visited it, it's recorded in our databases, and a great deal was written about it back when we had been considering building colonies there. Ultimately, the Federation decided against it, but it's taken on something of a legendary quality amongst historians. There are some who believe the inhabitants of the planet possess energy manipulation abilities that border on being actual magic."

Zelda didn't say anything, but the General's gray eyes were piercing, and he almost seemed like he was looking right through her.

"At any rate," he continued, "I can put out the alert to report any sightings of Ridley to me directly so I can contact you. As for your Seven Wonders and what Ridley could want with them, I don't know anything that would be helpful, I'm afraid. I can let you borrow the book, however."

He swiveled his chair around and pulled an old but surprisingly well-preserved book from the shelf. Zelda expected him to give it to Samus, but he laid it in front of her instead.

"I trust you'll be able to discern the facts from the fictions in here," he said as Zelda took the book in her arms. She just nodded in response.

Samus looked at book curiously and then over back to Adam. "Do you think there's anything in there that could actually be of any use to us?"

"Possibly," he said with the faintest trace of an amused smile. "If nothing else, Ms. Zelda might at least be able to set the record straight regarding her planet. I'll admit I've always been curious about a few of the stories in that book."

Samus grunted. "Whatever. We should probably head back to the ship now. Pikachu is still on there and I hate leaving him alone."

She got up to leave, and Zelda went to follow her.

"Wait," Adam called as Samus was at the door, and the bounty hunter looked back at him in surprise. "You may go, Lady. I just want to speak to Ms. Zelda for a moment, if you don't have any objection."

"Um… sure." Samus looked confused for a moment but left without saying anything.

Zelda felt a sense of unease as Samus disappeared behind the door. It wasn't anything to do with the General's presence, but she had gotten so used to Samus, her presence had become almost like a security blanket in this strange world.

"I just wanted to ask you something before you go," Adam said in his usual calm demeanor, and the tone of his voice actually helped to set Zelda a little more at ease. "How is Samus doing?"

Zelda was a bit taken back by the question. "She seems all right. She took a hit during a battle a few days back and was bleeding, but as far as I can tell, she seems to have remarkable healing abilities."

Adam nodded. "I know. She's very fortunate that way. Unfortunately, she has a tendency to push herself, quite a lot. I take it she hasn't been sleeping? And you've probably never seen her eat anything?"

"Does… does she even need to do those things? As often as other people do, I mean."

The General sighed. "Believe it or not, yes. She should. She is half human, and I know how she gets when… well, when she pulls this kind of thing. She can get terribly single-minded when it comes to Ridley and will go weeks at a time without eating or sleeping. It's not good for her." He regarded Zelda very seriously. "I can't be there to look out for her. The Federation military is stretched too thin in this war as it is. Promise me you'll at least make an effort to get her to take care of herself. I've seen this before with her, and I know how it ends. It's not pretty."

Zelda paused, trying to process what he had just said. "I'm not sure she'll listen to anything I tell her to do."

"I think you'd be surprised." He smiled gently at the princess. "She let you near her without her power suit on. She seems comfortable with you."


	9. Ch 9: In the Still of the Night

**Author's Note:** I can't believe it's December already. In honor of the holidays, I'm organizing a Metroid Secret Santa art-and-story swap over on my tumblr page eevee-nicks.

Anyway, I want to thank everyone who has taken time to review and comment on this story. It means a lot. Like a lot a lot to get feedback on this area of writing where I am the most self-conscious. Especially when the chapters aren't action-heavy.

So please do take the time to leave a review if you can. I would really appreciate it. Thank you :)

 **Chapter 9: In the Still of the Night**

Zelda was unusually quiet on the way back to the ship, and Samus wondered what Adam had said to her. She also wondered why he had given her a dusty old tome about the history of Hyrule. It would be interesting to hear Zelda's perspective on it and all, but the bounty hunter doubted the secrets of the Seven Wonders were hidden within it. Then again, nothing about this mission was straightforward. She wasn't even sure what the Wonders were supposed to do.

When the two women stepped back into the cabin of the ship, Pikachu rushed forward and greeted Samus by jumping on her shoulder.

"PIKA! PIKACHU!" he squeaked as he walked around the back of her neck and head-butted her cheek affectionately.

"Hello, Pikachu," Samus said, giving the little guy a few head scratches. "It's good to see you too."

"Chu!" He smiled and nestled his head into the place where her neck met her shoulder. Samus stiffed a little at first given her wariness of anyone coming near her neck, but she relaxed after a moment.

Despite enjoying how warm the electric Pokémon felt against her neck, Samus picked Pikachu up and placed him on the back of the couch. "Sorry, little guy. I'm not about to activate my power suit with you sitting on me like that."

"Wait!" Zelda called out suddenly, and Samus froze just as she had been getting ready to materialize her suit. "I'm sorry to be so abrupt, but I would rather you not activate the suit again."

Samus stiffened again for a moment, her sharp eyes staring over at the princess. "Why not?"

"Um…" Zelda looked nervous when she saw the intense look in the bounty hunter's eyes, and she clutched the book harder. "I don't mean anything by it. I just… I guess I feel more comfortable being able to see you. You haven't given me any reason to feel nervous, but it is hard to relax with a giant metal person walking around. Especially one with a cannon for an arm."

"I make you uncomfortable?"

Zelda's face began to blush as she floundered for a response. "Not you… not really you anyway. Just your armor. It's so… cold. I'm not used to that. I guess I just feel better seeing another human being on the ship. I'm already so out of my element here."

Samus took a moment to process what the princess said. On one hand, being out of her suit did make her anxious, especially when she was all keyed up and on the hunt. But on the other hand, she didn't want to upset Zelda, and she knew how lost the princess must be feeling right now hopping between planets like this.

"Fine," said the bounty hunter. "I'll leave my suit off for the time being."

"Thank you, Samus." Zelda smiled. "I know it's not what you're used to, but I really appreciate you opening your home to me and going out of your way to make me feel more comfortable."

Samus didn't know what to say to that. She wasn't used to having anyone else in her ship, and she definitely wasn't used to referring to her ship as "home," although she supposed that's what it technically was. The closest thing she had to a home at any rate.

"Just look through the book," Samus said a bit more gruffly than she had intended, "and see if there's anything that can help us in there. We still have no leads on Ridley or where the next Wonder is."

Zelda blinked in surprise at the hunter's abrupt defensiveness. "If you don't know where to go next, maybe it would be a good time to get some rest? Maybe have something to eat as well?"

Something clicked in Samus's head. "Adam. That's what he was telling you. He's always doing crap like that."

"Things like trying to get you to rest and take care of yourself?"

"Exactly," Samus snapped. "It's so annoying. I'm in the middle of a hunt and he starts acting like he's still my CO or something and can tell me what to do."

Zelda eyed her skeptically. "I don't think that's him acting like a Commanding Officer. I think that's him trying to look out for your well being."

Samus just grunted.

"Someone has to do it," Zelda continued with a smirk, "and it clearly won't be you. I think that's sweet of him. He cares about you."

The bounty hunter crossed her arms and fidgeted uncomfortably. "Yeah, well, he always has. Really looked out for me back when I was in the Army. Saved me from a bad discharge a few times."

"So maybe taking his advice wouldn't be such a bad idea?"

Samus closed her eyes and sighed. "It has been a minute since I rested."

Zelda nodded. "You didn't eat anything at all when we were in Hyrule, and I haven't seen you eat anything since we've been on the ship. When was the last time you slept?"

"A few days before."

"Before coming to Hyrule?"

Samus nodded.

"Samus!" Zelda glared at her. It looked almost comical to the bounty hunter considering the princess was a little elf person wearing a tee shirt and jeans that were way too big for her slender form. "Why?"

"I've been on the hunt." She didn't feel like elaborating.

"Yes, for Ridley. I know, but how do you expect to fight him _and_ Ganon when you're exhausted and starved halfway to death?"

Samus looked away from the princess and shifted again. "It's not that simple, okay. Yeah, I'll try to eat something. I just forget to do that when I'm focused on other things. But sleeping…" She paused, biting her lip nervously as though trying to figure out whether to continue or not. "Sleeping is hard for me."

"Harder than staying awake for days at a time?"

Samus frowned. "Neither is easy. And one only makes the other all the more difficult."

Zelda smiled gently. "If you have a hard time falling asleep, I know some potions I can make to help with that."

"Heh." Samus eyed the princess skeptically. "If it were as simple as drugging myself, I would have mastered it by now. The problem is I just don't like sleeping. I'm too on edge most of the time, and even when I can sleep… well, it's anything but restful."

"I see." Zelda's expression disappeared, and for a moment she took on the look of the stoic monarch she had be raised to become. "In Hyrule, we've been fortunate not to have any major wars in recent years. But there have been battles we have been forced to fight. Many of the soldiers experienced similar problems when they came home. I may not know exactly what you're going through, but I've seen this sort of thing before."

Samus didn't say anything. She could feel her face turning hot and couldn't bring herself to make eye contact with Zelda. She hated this feeling, the feeling of being exposed and pitied. It was why she normally never talked about it.

"I don't know if there's anything I can do to help," Zelda continued, "but I'm here if you ever need anything. You've saved my life more than once in the past few days, and if there's any way I can help you, I want to at least try."

The bounty hunter finally looked up and made eye contact with Zelda. There was something feral about the look in her eyes. Something angry that flashed a warning to the princess. But beneath all that, there was something about Samus's expression that looked almost frightened.

"Believe me," the hunter said, her voice falling to a deep monotone. "You don't want to try. You don't want to know or have anything to do with it when I get like that."

Samus expected the princess to back down after that, but to her surprise, Zelda held her ground, looking more determined than ever.

"Whatever it is, Samus," the princess said, "I refuse to let you suffer in silence like that without trying to take action. Maybe it will be too much for me to handle, but that's a chance I'm willing to take. You threw yourself in front of a dragon for me and used your body as a shield, for Din's sake!"

The bounty hunter's eyes darted around the Spartan little cabin, jumping between the efficiency kitchen and back over to the very plain gray couch.

"Would you be willing," she mumbled, still avoiding eye contact with the princess, "to keep a lookout? In case anything should go wrong. I'll set alarms on the ship itself but… an extra set of ears wouldn't hurt."

Zelda smiled gently. "Of course, Samus."

Samus could feel the rigidity of her muscles as adrenaline coursed through her. Uttering those words and asking for even such a small favor seemed like a monumental feat to her, and to her surprise, the princess hadn't responded with anything that sounded like pity. Her soft smile was one of genuine compassion.

Samus hated pity, but she had no idea what to do with compassion. Pity was the look the doctors and other soldiers had given her when she was in the Federation Army and would wake up in a corner screaming and rocking and covered in sweat. It was the way they looked down on her like she might break at any moment.

There had only been one person who had understood. Adam had never treated her like she was weak. He treated her with compassion, and he was more gentle with her when need be, but he never treated her like she was weak.

That look of compassion, the one that could almost set her at ease, was the one Zelda now wore. And it terrified her.

"Samus?" the princess asked. "Are you okay?"

The mercenary shook her head. "I'm sorry. I just zoned out for a second. I guess maybe I am a little tired."

Zelda crossed her arms and smirked. "Just a little?"

Samus grunted as she turned and walked toward the cockpit. "I'm going to set a course out to a safer, quieter area of space and kick on the autopilot. Then I can turn on the ship's onboard night simulation."

"Finally!" Zelda sighed with relief. "I've been wondering how you do it without a day-to-night cycle. Apparently, you've just been refusing to make it night!"

"Heh." Samus laughed to herself as she stepped into the cockpit and closed the hatch behind her. She had not been refusing to make it night so much as she just hadn't thought of it. It wasn't like she was used to having guests on her ship, and Pikachu was content to just curl up and nap anywhere.

As she sat down in her pilot's chair, she input some coordinates. She didn't feel comfortable sleeping on the ship while they were in a hangar on Daiban. Too many people would recognize her ship. She felt much more comfortable if they were out cruising through space with the autopilot keeping them on the move.

Once they were far enough out into space, Samus input the commands for the autopilot and set the ship to simulated night. The lights slowly dimmed as the HVAC system lowered the temperature of the recycled air. For some reason, it was always easier for her to relax when it was cool and dark. She supposed that was typical of humans in general given that it was how night on Earth was, and human circadian rhythms would be naturally in tuned to the planet on which they originated. She had never been to Earth personally, but she had heard it was a very comfortable planet for humans, even if they weren't very welcoming of other species.

With the autopilot engaged and the ship switching into its night simulation, Samus got up and went back through the hatch into the cabin. Zelda was lying on the couch and stroking Pikachu behind his ears. The Pokémon looked so relaxed he was almost purring.

"You two okay in here?" Samus asked with a grin. "Comfortable enough?"

"Chhuuuuuuu…." Pikachu responded without opening his eyes. He looked like he was ready to drift off to sleep any minute.

Zelda sat up and smiled at the bounty hunter. She stretched out her arms over her head and yawned. "Not quite as comfortable as Pikachu, but definitely comfortable enough. This nighttime feature is actually very soothing."

The bounty hunter nodded as she made her way through the minimalistic living room portion of the cabin and over to the little efficiency kitchen. She opened up a metal cabinet and pulled out a couple of protein bars. They hardly constituted a meal, but Samus rarely ate anything but protein bars and MREs.

"You know," the princess said with an impish grin, "one of these days we should go to a planet and get some real food. It could be fun."

Samus looked back at her and raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

"I'm sure you could introduce me to a whole bunch of new cuisines."

The bounty hunter laughed. "I suppose I could. Whether or not you'd actually want to eat them is another story."

Zelda wore a wicked grin, and her eyes looked like she was up for the challenge. "I'm a bit more adventurous than you think."

"I figured you must be pretty adventurous." Samus laughed. "You came out here with me to hunt Ridley and the wizard man. I'd say that's about as adventurous as it gets."

"Then trying new foods should be easy in comparison. We could go out to a restaurant together."

"Heh." Samus's smile was half grimace at this point. "Again, if I didn't know better I would think you were trying to flirt with me."

Zelda's big blue eyes got wide as a bit of color rushed into her cheeks. Samus wasn't sure what it was she found so striking about her just then, but there was just something about the way the pink blush on her face enhanced the color of her eyes.

 _You're kind of cute when you're embarrassed,_ Samus thought to herself, wishing she could think of anything to say out loud. Now she was the one feeling embarrassed for bringing up the whole subject of flirting again.

"What I meant to say was," Samus continued, trying to figure out what she meant to say even as she was already speaking, "that it just sounded like you were asking me out on a date. That's how courtship works in my world… theoretically. I don't personally partake in human courtship rituals… usually anyway. But I guess you don't either since you're probably betrothed to some prince or something."

Samus paused. Now she was the one who could feel color rising up in her cheeks.

"Not that I meant to stereotype," Samus fumbled as she tried to figure out what exactly she wanted to say. "I know not all princesses are just married off for political reasons… not that there's anything wrong with it if you are, but—"

"Samus," Zelda said with a smile on her face. "I'm not betrothed. It's okay. You don't have to explain yourself. I know what you meant."

Samus half-smiled awkwardly.

"I guess it did sound like I was asking you out on a date," Zelda continued. She was still smiling, but it was obvious she was nervous about something and still embarrassed about the whole thing. "Even if that's not how I have traditionally courted suitors, I know other people do that kind of thing. I just forget sometimes. Living in the castle is nice and all, but I do get cut off from most normal social interactions."

"That makes two of us," Samus said. She could feel her embarrassment starting to ebb, and that was good.

"I mean, the idea of the two of us on a date is just ridiculous." Zelda laughed awkwardly.

"A princess and a mercenary." Samus laughed dryly. "I can't imagine that would go over well with the royal court."

"No, not at all…"

"Especially not with the whole thing where I'm a woman and all."

Zelda shook her head. "I'm not sure which aspect of it would be more scandalous."

Samus paused. She took a deep breath as she looked at her companion standing there with her delicate features while wearing Samus's old army clothes. It was a ridiculous thought, but Samus suddenly found herself wishing they could spend some time together off of her ship and in a less mission-oriented context. A warrior of few words, she couldn't remember the last time she had spoken to any individual person this long, especially without her power suit on.

"Maybe we could," Samus said slowly. "Go eat somewhere sometime I mean."

Zelda nodded. "Yes… people share food all the time in a non-dating context, right?"

"Of course." Samus nodded, recalling the last time she had been in a restaurant. "I used to have people contracting my services take me out for business luncheons sometimes. I never really ate anything, but I would go to the restaurant and find out what they wanted me to kill…" She paused, a sick feeling settling into her stomach. "Or capture… or protect. It wasn't always about killing things."

Zelda looked pale and slightly aghast as she stared at Samus. She looked like she wanted to say something, but the bounty hunter began walking and just brushed past her as she made her way back to the cockpit.

"I need to get back," Samus muttered, not making eye contact with Zelda or even looking up until she was back in her pilot's chair with the hatch sealed firmly behind her.

 _Idiot,_ she thought to herself as she reclined the seat backwards far enough that she was lying down comfortably. She didn't know why she was so upset. It had never been any secret to Zelda that she was a mercenary. One of her arms was literally a cannon.

Still, there was something about the way the princess's face had fallen when she mentioned contracting to kill. It was like a sharp slap across the face to Samus, a reminder of what she really was, lest she forget her place in the galaxy.

She rolled over on her side and curled up with her knees close to her chest. Whatever Zelda had thought she was, Samus knew she was no noble knight errant, and she had gotten so caught up in the eternal Renaissance Faire that was Hyrule that she had nearly forgotten that.

 _You're a hunter, Samus,_ she thought to herself as the cool night air settled over her. _You don't belong in her world, and she doesn't belong in yours._


	10. Ch 10: Have You Any Dreams?

**Author's note:** Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a review. I know I say it a lot, but I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I hope this slow burn romance isn't too slow. I feel like people want kissing to happen in romance stories... I don't know. Haha. You can tell I'm out of my element with this genre, but dammit, I'm really trying!

To my guess reviewer: I have read "Attached" at some point. It was a few years ago so I don't remember all of it. I don't think I've read the other ones, so I'll look them up later.

Okay. So without further ado, please enjoy!

 **Chapter 10: Have You Any Dreams?**

The austere cabin on the ship felt cold and unwelcoming. Even Hyrule castle, with all its gray stone walls, felt cozier than the bleak cabin. Even the "food" stocked in the pantry of the efficiency kitchen was little more than flavored powder and something like cold, dried-out noodles. Zelda didn't know how Samus managed to live like this, especially not how she had managed to do it all alone before Pikachu had come into the picture.

Zelda looked down at Pikachu as he sat on the couch beside her. His small arms were crossed, and his ears were pointed upward in high alert. Zelda knew what he was listening for, the same sounds they had been hearing off and on since Samus had skulked off to the cockpit and sealed the hatch behind her. Now Zelda understood why the mercenary had said she didn't like sleeping.

As if on cue, the sounds started again. Samus's muffled screams of abject horror escaped the cockpit, and Zelda balled her hands into fists so tightly her nails were starting to cut into her palms. She hated hearing Samus scream like that and feeling completely helpless to do anything to stop it.

Her first impulse had been to run into the cabin and wake the hunter up, but Pikachu had jumped in her way and insisted she not go in there. It took a while for the two of them to find a way to communicate with each other, but eventually Zelda got the idea. Pikachu didn't want her to wake Samus up because she needed to sleep, and as long as Samus was sleeping, nightmares would continue to wreak havoc upon her mind. Eventually, Zelda had relented and taken a seat on the couch. It had been hours since she had moved.

Again, she wondered just how the mercenary had managed to live like this. The ship was dull and empty looking, and her nightmares kept her trapped in her own personal hell. It wasn't healthy.

"Is it always like this?" Zelda asked again, and Pikachu nodded. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

The Pokémon shrugged. Even if he did know something that could help, he didn't know how to communicate it to Zelda. How Samus managed to communicate with the little guy was a mystery to her. She had assumed it would be easier. Then again, Samus didn't seem very good at communicating with people so it made sense she might have an easier time with animals.

Zelda slowly reached out and scratched Pikachu behind the ears. He made a cute sound and seemed to enjoy it, so she continued.

"Samus is a bit of an enigma, isn't she?"

Pikachu just continued to squeak as his ears twitched happily.

Zelda thought about the woman asleep in the other room. Even now she kept herself sealed behind the heavy hatch, not willing to let Zelda or Pikachu be near her. Zelda wondered what that must have been like, to be so intent on isolating oneself. She would have thought that someone as lonely as Samus might have been glad for a bit of company to break up the monotony, but then again, she hadn't expected Samus to seal herself behind a barrier to sleep when the only people onboard were her allies.

"What has her life been like to make her like this?" Zelda asked, more to herself than to Pikachu.

The princess had known a great many warriors who had served in her court over the course of her life. She had been one herself in an alternate time, and she and Link were as close as she'd ever been with anyone. Never in all her years had she met someone who intentionally lived as Samus did.

Zelda didn't want to bring up her family's murder again and cringed as she thought about the tactless way she had gone about it the first time, but she wondered how much of that was related to why Samus wouldn't let anyone close to her. Thinking about it, it made as much sense as anything else. Of course the hunter would be afraid to let anyone close after such a tragedy. Zelda wondered what had happened to her after that, what the path had been like on her way to becoming the warrior she was now. She wondered how much of the story Adam knew.

Hours passed, and the princess eventually fell asleep on the couch, hugging Pikachu close to her chest. He was so soft and warm, Zelda wondered if Samus had ever tried snuggling her little yellow companion and if it would help with her nightmares.

Zelda's eyes snapped open, however, as she heard the hatch to the cockpit open and saw Samus step through. The mercenary just stared at the princess blankly before heading over to the kitchen portion of the cabin. Samus was still wearing her blue jump suit with the pink symbols as she slunk like a zombie over to the coffee maker and helped herself to a cup.

Neither she nor Zelda said anything as Samus eventually came over to the couch and took a seat beside the princess. Zelda waited patiently as Samus sipped her coffee for a while, refusing to make eye contact with anyone as she stared off into space. Only once the mug was nearly empty did the mercenary finally say anything.

"So I guess you heard that," Samus said as the ship began to switch over from simulated night back to simulated day. She squinted as the lights got brighter and set down the coffee mug on the small table in front of them.

"I did," Zelda said, also looking straight ahead and avoiding eye contact. "I wish that there was something I could—"

"It doesn't concern you." Samus's tone was flat. "Don't give it a second thought."

That response didn't satisfy Zelda though, and the princess turned to face Samus. Her expression was grave, and her mouth was set in a firm line. "How long has that been happening, Samus? Does it happen every time you sleep? You're not getting any rest at all like that! It's not healthy!"

Samus glared at the slender elf woman beside her. "It's not any of your business. I've lived like this for years, and I'm fine."

But Zelda didn't flinch, not even under the weight of the hunter's intense glare. "Now I know why Adam was so worried about you."

Samus rolled her eyes.

"I'm serious." Zelda's voice was stern. "If you were physically sick or injured you would take care of it. This isn't any different. It's not healthy."

"What does it matter to you?" Samus snapped, and both Zelda and Pikachu were taken aback by the abruptness of it. "We find these Wonder things and kill Ridley and then I take you back to your planet and never see you again."

"Did you ever think that maybe I'm legitimately concerned about you going into battle when you can't even sleep? Or maybe that I just care about you and can't stand knowing you're suffering?"

Samus stared at Zelda, frozen. "You shouldn't do that."

"Why not?"

A wild look came into Samus's eyes, and at first Zelda thought the hunter was getting angry, but after a moment, she realized that Samus actually looked scared.

"Because I don't want you to care about me," Samus replied. "I don't form attachments to people. It would be a waste of your time, and you'd only be putting yourself in danger."

"I've been in danger since I met you." Zelda frowned. "You're not the only one in this fight, Samus. I'm not just some delicate thing you need to protect from Ridley and Ganon. I'm here to _help_ you."

"You can _help_ me by not getting yourself killed or prying into my personal life!"

"It's not prying into your personal life! I didn't choose to hear you screaming in your sleep or try to listen!" Zelda's face was turning red with frustration. She really hated seeing the people around her suffering. It was one of the rare things that could actually make the normally reserved princess lose her temper. "Dammit, Samus! I have magic and stuff! If you're having nightmares I can try to find a spell that will help you with them!"

Samus's feral look started to ebb, and she just sat beside Zelda on the couch, staring at her, unsure what to say. "You… wouldn't be the first to try. I've been to a lot of doctors. They've all tried."

Zelda's expression and voice softened. "And did anything help?"

"For a time… but they always come back."

"Then we'll keep trying." Zelda gently touched Samus's hand and noted how cold and clammy it felt. "You saved my life, Samus. You protected my kingdom. You threw yourself in front of Ridley to protect me. Please, give me the opportunity to help you and be a real companion, not just a liability. You don't need to shoulder the whole universe's problems alone."

Samus looked down at the princess's delicate hand resting on hers, and slowly her fingers wrapped around it until the two of them were just sitting beside one another, quietly holding hands. Zelda wasn't sure what to make of Samus's blank expression, but it seemed preferable to her angry or frightened ones earlier. She hoped she was bringing at least some comfort to Samus. She didn't know any spells off the top of her head that would help to heal mental wounds, but she was determined to try.

After a while, Samus turned her head away and looked over to the ground.

"Thank you," she murmured softly.

Zelda smiled. "I'm always happy to help. If my magic can—"

"No," Samus said, shaking her head and still avoiding eye contact. "Thank you for not judging me. Or pitying me. Or treating me like I'm… fragile."

"If there's one thing I know you aren't, Samus, it's fragile."

The bounty hunter smiled slightly, though her eyes were still distant. "A lot of people… they see that weakness in me, and they start to look at me different. Either they walk on eggshells and treat me like I'm about to break or they try to take advantage of it. That's why I rarely take off the power suit anymore. At least when I'm wearing it, no one looks at me with pity."

Zelda held the hunter's hand tighter. "Then I'm honored you felt comfortable enough to take it off around me."

Samus eventually looked up at her and tried to smile, though it seemed forced. "You're just…" She looked like she was having difficulty searching for the right words. "You're… I don't… hate being around you." She paused, looking uncharacteristically nervous. "You're just… comfortable."

"I'm glad my presence doesn't repulse you." Zelda was struggling to hold back laughter. Samus had quite a way of phrasing things.

"It really doesn't." She looked at Zelda earnestly. "I don't hate having you here. I don't hate the way you look at me or talk to me."

"I'm glad I could meet such high standards." Zelda smiled as she held onto Samus's hand. She knew the mercenary was trying to tell her more than just the fact that she didn't hate her, but words had never seemed to come easy for Samus. "I don't hate being around you either, Samus."

"You don't?"

"That surprises you?"

Samus glanced around the barren living quarters. "I know this isn't what you're accustomed to, living in the castle and all."

"I still don't hate being here."

Samus smiled, genuinely smiled as Zelda said that, and the princess could feel her heart begin to beat faster. There was something about watching Samus's anxiety dissipate along with her stoicism. It made Zelda happy, and she felt warm all over. Even Samus's once cold hand felt warmer.

"It's actually been kind of nice having you here," Samus said, still holding tight to the princess's hand. "It would really suck if you got murdered."

Zelda could actually feel her face falling as she just stared at Samus. Her hand went limp. "You…" the princess began, not sure what she was about to say. "You… we really need to get you out of your ship and socialized a bit better."

Samus tilted her head curiously, and the movement reminded Zelda of a confused bird. "Did I do something wrong?"

"You just have some unique ways of phrasing things…"

"I mean it though. If you got murdered, it would actually make me sad."

Zelda forced an awkward smile, but she could tell even Samus wouldn't find it convincing. "Thank you for the sentiment…"

"I won't let that happen though." The intense look returned to Samus's face as she looked Zelda straight in the eyes. "As long as I'm around, I won't let anyone hurt you."

The princess wasn't sure what to say at first, but she took hold of Samus's hand once again and gave it a firm squeeze. "Same goes for you."

The mercenary snorted as she tried to hold back her laughter.

"What's so funny?" Zelda asked. "You think I'm just some damsel who's planning on being in distress all the time?"

Samus shook her head, still clearly amused by the thought. "No. I just don't think anyone has ever offered to protect _me_ before. I've been trained in combat since I was a toddler. I'm a one woman army."

"Well, now we can be a two woman army," Zelda said with a sly grin. She was really enjoying holding Samus's hand, and she found herself suddenly wishing she could get even closer to the bounty hunter. It was a strange thought, but she found herself wanting to hold onto Samus. Sitting beside the warrior and hearing her promise to protect the princess, Zelda suddenly found herself wondering what it would be like to be held in Samus's strong arms for more than just jumping on and off the ship.

"Pika-pikachu!" the Pokémon suddenly interrupted, jumping between the two of them. "Chu-uuuu…"

Zelda wasn't sure why the yellow rodent was suddenly freaking out, but one glance at Samus's face, and she knew the mercenary understood perfectly.

"That's right, Pikachu," Samus said with a gentle smile as she scratched behind his ears. "A two woman and one Pokémon army."

"Piiika…" Pikachu's eyelids drooped as Samus pet him, and before long, he was laying down beside her, calm and drifting off to another cat nap.

For all that Samus struggled with basic social rules, Zelda realized, she was remarkably good with small animals. Even if she didn't speak their languages, she had found ways to communicate with both Pikachu and the pink squishy ball creature in Captain Falcon's jar. She may not have understood basic rules of tact, but Samus must have possessed an incredible amount of empathy for raw emotions. Even if she was a bit too blunt for the more refined social interactions Zelda was used to, there was something refreshing about Samus's candor, something most people who associated with the Royal Family lacked.

An alarm suddenly sounded in the cockpit, and Samus bolted upright as she dashed to answer it. Her abrupt departure left Zelda's hand feeling cold and empty, and the princess hoped whatever was happening would not take her long.

 _"Samus!"_ she heard a transmission saying. _"There's been an incident in one of the outer planets of the Delta Quadrant. We can't make contact with any of the sentient creatures in that area, but we have reason to believe the planet might be under attack."_

"You want me to go check it out?" Samus replied, her voice cold and deep as it normally was when she was in her full armor. "What are you offering?"

 _"Fifteen hundred credits for a quick scope of the area. Six thousand if you end up having to use your weapons."_

"Hmph." Samus scoffed. "You know my reputation for getting the job done. Six thousand credits is peanuts for the kind of risk you're asking me to take approaching hostile life forms on an unstudied planet."

There was a brief silence. _"Fine. Ten thousand credits if you have to do battle."_

"Twelve thousand if I have to do battle, and forty-five thousand if the creatures I'm battling against happen to be Space Pirates."

 _"That's insane! Forty-five thousand?"_

"If you're not willing to cough that up, good luck finding anyone else willing to take on Space Pirates solo. At _best_ you'll find a squad of five or six guys, but that'll run you seventy-five easy. If it happens to be Space Pirates, that is."

There was another pause as the man on the other end of the transmission seemed to be thinking it over. _"Fine. Forty-five thousand if it's Space Pirates. You've got yourself a deal, even if it's damn robbery!"_

The transmission must have ended, because Zelda heard a beep, and within seconds, Samus had reappeared in the cabin. She turned to Zelda, her face set in a serious expression. "You've never seen Space Pirates before. I think you should sit this one out."

Zelda frowned. "We're partners in this, Samus. Two woman army, remember?"

The bounty hunter shook her head. "I don't recommend it, but I won't try to stop you."

She took a step backwards from where the princess and the Pokémon still sat on the couch, and a dark golden glow came over Samus's form. As it faded out, it revealed her standing before them in her full power suit once more. Only this time, she watched them through a transparent visor, and Zelda felt much better being able to see her eyes.

"Thank you," the princess said, and Samus seemed to know what she was referring to because she silently nodded.

This time, as Samus entered the cockpit, she beckoned for Zelda and Pikachu to follow her. The hunter sat down in her pilot's seat and set a new route, presumably headed to the planet she had been hired to investigate.

"What kind of world do you think we're going to?" Zelda asked as she saw Samus reading a holoscreen covered in strange alien text.

"From what I can tell," Samus replied, still looking over the text, "its atmosphere is similar to that of Earth, and that means it's similar to that of your planet as well. It doesn't seem very technologically advanced, but the main sentient indigenous species appears to be some kind of primate."

"So," Zelda said, curiously glancing at the alien text and trying to see if any of it looked familiar, "we're going to a planet full of apes?"


	11. Ch 11: Wild Heart

**Author's Note:** I've been rather sick most of this week, so I had some extra time to lay in bed and write fan fiction. Hoping I feel better before Christmas, and kind of hoping to do some kind of holiday one-shot story before then.

Anyway, as always, thanks to those of you who reviewed and left comments even if I haven't had time to respond to them all. I just feel... blah. And less interacty than usual. It'll pass though. I want you to know I do really truly appreciate every review, favorite, etc.

 **Chapter 11: Wild Heart**

It was difficult finding a place to land her ship on this new planet. The dense jungle canopies made it impossible to see what was on the ground below. While Samus was willing to make a blind landing through the trees, she preferred not to. Despite her reputation for obliterating entire ecosystems, Samus at least tried not to do any more damage to a planet's environment than absolutely necessary. Additionally, if this really was a planet with a sentient primate species, she didn't want to disturb any of their habitats.

She was just getting ready to make a blind landing through a thinner patch of trees when she spotted a gap in the canopy. It wasn't a very large gap, but it was enough for her small ship to fit through, and she didn't know when she would find another one.

Samus put the ship into its landing mode, and as it touched down on the ground, she cut the engines and docked it. Standing up, she activated her power suit and walked out through the hatch into the cabin. Zelda and Pikachu were already in there waiting for her.

"We've landed," Samus said, looking over Zelda's attire and realizing she was still in Samus's old army clothes. "If you really want to come with me, I'd recommend changing into something a little more practical."

"I'm already ahead of you!" Zelda grinned as she took a couple of steps back. She raised her arms about her head and was suddenly bathed in a bright white light. As it faded, Samus could see Zelda's appearance had drastically changed.

She was wearing a dark blue body suit with gray markings and a big red eye at its center. It was very similar to the outfit Impa had been wearing back at Hyrule Castle. There was some kind of wrap around her hair that obscured the bottom half of the princess's face. The part that disturbed Samus, however, was that the woman before her suddenly had red eyes instead of Zelda's blue ones.

"Zelda?" Samus frowned behind her visor.

"Technically, yes," the ninja-like woman said. Her voice was deeper than before. "I suppose I should have told you about this sooner, but there never seemed to be a good time. At one point in my life, I was forced to flee from Ganondorf and live for seven years in hiding. I was trained by a warrior people known as the Sheikah. This was my disguise."

Samus wasn't sure what to make of that, but the sudden revelation made her uneasy. "And that's all your wearing? I know the Sheikah might have been great warriors in Hyrule, but once the bullets start flying out there—"

"I still have my magic. I'll cast Nayru's love as a shield spell. You don't have to worry about me."

Samus just stared at the ninja-like woman. She knew it was still technically Zelda, but something just felt wrong about it. She missed the real Zelda, the one she had gotten comfortable around. Now she felt like she had to be more on guard again.

"I'd still be more comfortable if you'd wear some kind of body armor," Samus said. "Can you make any of that magically appear?"

Zelda shook her head. "Unfortunately, the magic is limited only to clothing already in existence that I have had contact with. Besides, this transformation was about more than just clothing, Samus. This body, Sheik's body, is stronger than Zelda's. It's been conditioned through years of training and surviving alone."

Samus wasn't sure what to make of that, but the idea that her companion had a surprise warrior alter ego made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Magic made her uncomfortable, and this whole shift in Zelda's mannerisms, body, and even name was a lot for her to process. Sheik may have been better suited for battle, but Samus wanted Zelda back.

"Whatever," Samus said, a bit more coldly than she had intended to. "Just stay behind me if anyone opens fire. I'll protect you."

Sheik's red eyes lacked Zelda's characteristic compassion as they stared back at the bounty hunter, and Samus looked away. She had heard of people partitioning off parts of themselves mentally in order to survive extreme situations. Samus did it to some extent herself, switching between her hunter mode and what pieces remained of her human mode. The transformation between Zelda and Sheik however, went far beyond mere mental partitioning.

"Does this form make you uncomfortable?" Sheik asked, but Samus ignored her.

Instead, the bounty hunter led them out to the hatch on top of the ship. As they got to the top, Samus reflexively went to pick up Zelda, only to find that Sheik had easily made the jump down to the ground. She landed with a silent grace that even Samus couldn't pull off. Feeling strangely disappointed, Samus jumped down beside her as the two women looked around at the dense jungle that surrounded them.

Aside from the place where the ship had landed, much of the area was dark from the dense canopies blocking out the sun. The trees were absolutely massive, and Samus could not remember the last time she had been somewhere so lush and green. Fruits seemed to blossom on every bough, and there was such a variety of it. It was no wonder primates had adapted so well to this planet.

Sheik wandered off ahead of Samus as she went to explore the jungles. She moved silently and with the grace of a cat. Though Zelda was normally quite graceful, there was something almost predatory about the grace with which Sheik moved.

The mercenary just watched her for a moment, knowing her focus should have been on the uncharted territory of this new planet, but there was something transfixing about watching the other woman. She would never have guessed that Zelda had some kind of ninja alter ego, and she wondered if she had started to get comfortable around her too soon. Still, even though she was different and her eyes were an unsettling shade of red, Sheik was still very much Zelda. The longer Samus watched her curiously exploring the forest, the more certain of that she became. Warrior though she was, Sheik still possessed every ounce of Zelda's inquisitive nature, and while it wasn't perfect, Samus decided it was a good starting point for her to try to get comfortable again.

She was just about to begin her own exploration of the jungle when something in the shadows caught her eye.

"Zelda!" she called as she leaped forward and threw herself between the princess and the unknown assailant. Even as she did so, a shot rang out, and Samus could hear Sheik's gasps at the same moment that the shot hit the mercenary square in the chest. It burst on impact.

Only, to Samus's surprise, it didn't hurt. She brushed off her chest plate, seeing that the impact hadn't even changed the level of energy in her shielding. She just stared out at where the shot had come from when another blast flew her way. This time, rather than dodging the shot or trying to protect Zelda, Samus caught the projectile in her hand and held it just long enough to see what it was before harmlessly tossing it over into some bushes.

"Um… coconuts?" Samus asked as she looked toward their point of origin. Several more coconut shots came at her, but she caught them all with ease and tossed them away, staring bemused at their source the entire time.

When she figured it was getting ridiculous, Samus finally walked over to the shadow where the attacker had been hiding, reached down, and picked up a very small creature.

To her surprise, it appeared to be some sort of little brown monkey wielding a very primitive looking coconut gun. The monkey shrieked wildly and flailed as Samus casually knocked the gun out of its hands and continued to inspect it. It seemed mostly like a normal monkey except that it was wearing a red baseball hat and red shirt. That, and the fact that it had been carrying a firearm.

"Easy there, little guy," Samus said as the monkey attempted to beat his fists against her forearm. "We're not here to hurt you. We're here because we heard your planet was in trouble, and we want to help."

The monkey screeched louder and began pointing frantically at Samus's ship and then up at the sky. By this point, Sheik had joined them and watched from just behind Samus.

"So you've seen space ships before?" Samus asked, and the monkey nodded. He stretched his arms out wide and gestured toward the sky. "A lot of space ships?"

The monkey nodded again and pointed deep into the woods. He made several nervous chirps.

"Let me guess," Samus said, "the beings who came on the space ships weren't friendly. Your little coconut guns didn't do much, did they?"

The monkey whined sadly as his long tail drooped. He began chattering things that Samus couldn't understand, but she waited until he was finished. She didn't know for certain what had attacked the planet, but she was getting a pretty good idea of what it could have been.

"And you escaped?" the mercenary asked once the monkey had calmed down.

He nodded again, looking embarrassed. Samus guessed it was because he was ashamed of himself for running away.

"That's good," Samus said. "You can lead us to your village, and we can help rescue your family."

He stared up at her skeptically, trying to size up the space warrior even though it was obvious he had no point of reference. He didn't say anything as Samus gently placed him on the ground and handed him back his weapon.

"Please," she said, "take use to them. Let us help protect you from the invaders."

The little monkey looked up at Samus. He was very still for a moment, but eventually he nodded. He readied his coconut gun as he turned to lead them through the dense jungle.

The jungle itself was oddly quiet for an environment that looked like it should have been teeming with exotic life. But there were no animal sounds in the distance, barely even the hum of insects. Something was very wrong on this planet, and Samus could feel it. She kept her cannon raised as she switched between her combat and thermal visors to get a better idea of their surroundings.

"You know," Sheik said suddenly, though her soft voice barely broke the silence, "I wasn't sure how you were going to react to that monkey shooting at us. You really surprised me."

Samus wasn't sure what to make of that as she continued to follow the little monkey deeper into the trees.

"What were you expecting me to do?" Samus asked after a minute. "Little guy was just scared and didn't know what we were."

"You just have a way with animals."

"Only of the non-human variety." She frowned. "I was raised to respect all living things, and to protect those that can't protect themselves. I'm not just going to wage war on everything that gets scared and attacks me. Honestly, I know my appearance can be a little disconcerting…"

"I'm just paying you a compliment, Samus."

"Oh."

They continued along in silence for the next few minutes. Samus normally didn't like to talk while she was on a mission, so that was fine by her. Eventually, however, she could hear sounds coming from ahead, and by the stiff way he was walking, Samus could tell their new primate friend was in no rush to get there.

When she couldn't take his progressively slower pace any longer, the bounty hunter hurried on ahead of the group and began her own recognizance, cannon raised and ready to fire at a moment's notice. She may not have been able to see the invaders yet, but she could hear them, and she knew exactly what they were.

As she arrived at a clearing, she hid in the darkness and observed the scene before her. Tall reptilian-insect beings with gray scaly armor. They stood at least seven feet each with massive gray crustacean claws where their hands should have been. And each claw contained a compact laser rifle at its core.

Space Pirates. Around two dozen of them. They were swarming all over what appeared to be a primitive-looking village with a few wooden tree houses built into the limbs of the surrounding banana trees. Several of the Pirates appeared to ransacking the houses in search of something while the rest of them gathered around a large metal cage filled with more primates similar to the monkey who had found Samus and Sheik.

The caged primates were shrieking with fury, trying desperately to break the bars of their holding cell, but the metal bars wouldn't give. As Samus watched, she saw one of the Space Pirates shoot a particularly unruly monkey. It fell to the ground and lay still. The other primates quieted down for a moment, but when they began shrieking again, their uproar was twice as loud.

Samus then looked over to another cage, suspended from one of the trees. The cage itself was about the same size as the other one, but its sole occupant was absolutely massive, the largest ape Samus had ever seen. He was a similar shade of brown to her monkey companion, but instead of a shirt and a hat, he was wearing a red tie. Samus thought it was an odd fashion choice, but she knew nothing of the primates' culture and figured there was probably some reason for it.

"What's the plan?" Sheik asked suddenly from behind Samus. The Sheikah had been so stealthy, Samus hadn't even heard her approaching.

"Still planning that," Samus said as she looked around and continued to assess the situation. One wrong move could get more primates killed, but so could waiting too long to strike.

"I can go after the big one," Sheik said, looking over toward the great ape in the suspended cage. "I bet he'd be a good one to have on our team."

Samus shook her head. "You stay behind. Run back to the ship if you need to. Take our new friend with you. These are Space Pirates, and they're a lot more dangerous than they look."

"Well, they already look pretty dangerous. But I'm serious. You can take these guys out, no problem, right? Create a diversion, I'll go free the king of the jungle up there."

Samus thought about it for a moment. Sheik certainly possessed the stealth skills to pull it off, and it wasn't like she could think of a better strategy. She was probably just going to default to running in and shooting them all up anyway.

"Fine," Samus said eventually, but before she could say anything else, Sheik had already slipped off back into the shadows.

The bounty hunter looked ahead to scene in front of her. Two dozen regular Space Pirate troopers would be nothing for her to take down. Protecting the hostages, on the other hand, would be a trick. She wasn't exactly known for her skills in minimizing collateral damage.

There were exactly five Space Pirates around the primate cage. This would be the perfect opportunity to use the Seeker Missile upgrade she had picked up back on Aether a couple of missions ago. Silently, she targeted the Pirates with her combat visor, marking each of them as a target for her multiple missile strike. As soon as she pulled that trigger, they'd all get blown to bits and then all hell would break loose. But she was ready for that. This was the kind of situation Samus was built for.

Firing off five missiles at once, Samus ran forward as they struck each of the Pirates, exploding on impact and throwing them to the ground. Samus followed up with a few quick plasma shots to the bodies, just to make sure she took them out before moving on.

By this point, the other Space Pirates had heard the explosion and rushed toward her. Sending laser fire her way, Samus skillfully dodged most of the shots, but threw herself up in the air to intercept the ones headed for the caged primates. A couple of those shots hit her square in the chest, knocking down a couple of her energy tanks, but she paid that no mind as she fired off three consecutive Super Missiles into the oncoming horde.

Each blast hit with five times the power of a normal missile, and the Pirate ranks were scattered as bodies were blown every which way from the force of the explosions. A few more stray laser shots threatened the indigenous animals yet again, but Samus used her body as a shield once more, protecting the primates as she sent out her own charged ice beam blast.

It wasn't as powerful as the missiles, but it did freeze a couple of the Pirates just long enough for Samus to pick them off. The remaining members of the horde were scattered now, taking cover wherever they could to attack Samus from a safe distance. She'd have to target them individually now if she wanted to take them all out, but that would mean potentially leaving the primate cage open to attack. It wasn't a good choice, but Samus knew nothing good could come from leaving so much as a single Space Pirate alive.

Charging up her plasma beam, Samus leapt forward, dashing laterally as she blasted a Pirate shooting at her from behind a banana tree. It burned up easily and practically disintegrated even before the hunter had pivoted and brought down another Pirate with a couple of well-timed missiles.

She ended up taking a few hits from a couple of Pirates that had climbed up to one of the massive tree's limbs, but she just brushed it off and used it as an opportunity to find their location and knock them down with a double shot from her Seeker Missile system. As they plummeted to the ground, she incinerated their bodies with her plasma beam. She wasn't sure how many Pirates were left, but she knew their numbers must have been pretty scant by this point.

Suddenly, she heard the piercing shriek of the primates in the cage, and she turned around to find three Pirates were quickly advancing on the defenseless hostages. She whipped around as quickly as she could and began to sprint toward the Pirates, cannon raised and ready.

Before she could pull the trigger, however, an absolutely massive form dropped down to the ground with a mighty roar. The enormous fist of the great ape in the red tie flew out and smashed all three of the Pirates at once. Its force was so powerful, it gave Samus pause, but only for a moment because as soon as the ape's fist was safely at a distance, she opened fire with her plasma beam, taking out all of the downed Space Pirates, charring their bodies until they were beyond recognition.

Only once they appeared dead several times over and her scans no longer displayed any Space Pirate biosigns in the vicinity, Samus lowered her cannon and looked over her work. Bodies lay strewn across the village as their green blood flowed. It was a slaughter, exactly the kind of scene that seemed to follow her wherever she went.

Normally she was numb to the carnage after all these years, but there was something bothering her about it now. She thought back to Zelda's face when she had talked about killing, and she suddenly found herself worrying about seeing that same frightened expression whenever she saw the princess again.

The giant ape jumped to the top of the metal cage, smashing through the top of it with his fist. The primates began to jump and screech excitedly as they all escaped one at a time, the smallest monkeys heading out first, followed by the larger apes.

"Looks like we did it," Sheik's voice said, suddenly beside her, and Samus's blood ran cold. She couldn't make eye contact with the other woman.

Instead, she just watched as they carried the body of one little monkey out of the cage, the body of the monkey that had been shot by the Space Pirate for being too loud. It was a terrible sight, and no matter how many times Samus saw it, she had never gotten used to seeing innocents being struck down like that. All she could think was how she had failed to protect that one little monkey.

"What do you think their medical tools are like?" Sheik asked, looking directly at Samus as though trying to get the mercenary to face her.

Samus just shrugged, still not wanting to make eye contact. "Probably next to nothing."

Sheik nodded, and she did something Samus had never expected. The Sheikah raised her arms above her head again and was bathed in the white light of transformation as she had been before. Only this time, she reappeared as the Princess Zelda, dressed once again in her long, regal looking gown of white and purple, wearing her intricately embroidered sash with its image of the Triforce.

She seemed to glow as she walked toward the injured monkey, and at first the other primates seemed wary of her presence, but eventually the ape carrying the body held it out to Zelda.

The princess's hands began to glow with a golden light as she held them over the monkey and closed her eyes. The golden glow expanded until it fully encompassed the monkey itself, and once it dissipated, there were no more wounds visible on the small creature's body. Zelda opened her eyes and smiled.

"There now, little creature," she said softly, gently petting the monkey's head. "You'll be all right now."

The monkey was still unconscious, but the larger ape cradled it closely and made a series of appreciative sounding grunts in Zelda's direction. Though none of them seemed to be paying much attention to Samus, they were all focused on the princess, some cooing happily and reminding Samus almost of birds. It was a happy scene, though the bounty hunter was happy to keep her distance and observe. This primate culture obviously seemed to value those who could heal their loved ones over those who could kill most efficiently. She didn't think that was a bad thing.

Eventually, Zelda bowed politely to the apes and monkeys, letting them know it was time for her to take her leave before looking over at Samus. She actually smiled, and Samus wasn't sure if the sharp feeling she got was relief, guilt, or some mixture thereof. She didn't know how the princess could still be smiling at her after watching her slaughter as many creatures as she just had.

"I hope you don't mind my outfit," Zelda said as she walked back over to the mercenary. She was still smiling. Somehow. "Sheik is a good form for battle, but I just feel much better in tuned with my healing magic in this form."

Samus wasn't sure what to say at first as she looked down at the princess. She looked absolutely beautiful in her elegant gown, especially with the way the lingering magic seemed to make her glow. Samus felt very conscious of the Pirate blood spatter and laser burn marks that marred her suit, but the princess didn't seem to care.

"It feels good to see you again." Samus paused. "I… missed you."

Zelda's smile gave way to a look of compassionate bemusement. "I was right here with you this whole time, Samus."

"I know… but you were different. Seeing you as Sheik was odd…"

"Oh, Samus…" Zelda laughed. "Imagine how I feel seeing you switch between looking like a human and then looking like an armored tank!"

"Oh… yeah." Samus paused. "I guess that would be kind of disconcerting."

Zelda just gave her a look. "Shall we head back to the ship?"

The bounty hunter nodded as she turned to lead the way back through the forest, but they didn't make it more than a few steps before the massive ape stood before them, blocking their path.

As they stopped in their tracks, the ape stared them down very seriously. Samus could see the letters "DK" emblazoned on his tie in yellow letters. She wondered what it stood for.

He opened his mouth and made a deep sound before placing a fist on his chest and bowing to the two women. Zelda and Samus both took their cues to bow to him as well.

As the ape stood up, he held out his closed hand toward Zelda and opened it to reveal a small green orb. He made a sound of encouragement, and she tentatively reached out and took it.

"Thank you," the princess said with stately reverence. "Thank you for entrusting us with this treasure."

The ape simply nodded before he reared up on his hind legs and began to beat his chest triumphantly. The other primates joined in with excited hollers, and Zelda and Samus could hear their cheers as they walked back through the forest, almost the whole way back to the ship.

When they finally reached the ship, Zelda paused to inspect the small green orb. "The Wonder of Forest," she murmured as she stared, transfixed, into its magnificent depths.

Samus already knew what she was seeing. Just like the others, the Wonder was a window into the world it came from, and Zelda could see all of the vast jungles of the planet.

Samus wondered if the princess would simply leap to the top of the ship or use her magic to get there, but to the bounty hunter's pleasant surprise, once Zelda was done looking at the Wonder, she returned to Samus's side and looked up at her expectantly. Samus smiled behind her visor as she reached down and scooped the princess up into her arms, carrying her bridal-style as they ascended to the top of the ship.


	12. Ch 12: Ghosts

**Author's note:** Hello everyone! Hope you had a great holiday and I hope you have a wonderful new year!

Today is a really special day for me. It's the second anniversary of when I published the first chapter of "Human", the first story in my Metroid fan fiction series. It's what got me back into fic writing after all these years and eventually led me here. So happy birthday to "Human!" :)

And thank you to those of you who read and comment on my work. It's amazing. Really, thank you. I can't imagine I would have gotten through two years of writing without it. And I certainly wouldn't have written as much as I have. It means a lot to me when someone likes my work. I like knowing I did something that made someone happy.

 **Chapter 12: Ghosts**

It was night mode once again on the ship. Samus had changed it at Zelda's request since it had been a good minute since the princess had slept. Though it had been less than a standard day's time since they had acquired the Wonder of Forest and gotten back on the ship, Zelda felt like it had been forever since they had left the jungle planet.

She was wearing one of her long, frilly white nightgowns now, one she had managed to conjure from her magic as it matched one she wore back in Hyrule. In her hand, she held the bright green orb she had received from the massive ape earlier in the day. She and Pikachu were once again sitting on the couch as Samus was off alone in the cockpit. As they sat, Zelda just turned the orb over in her hands several times, looking at the different parts of the world it showed her as she did so.

She wondered why the ape had been so quick to entrust her with it. While it was true that she and Samus had saved his village and healed one of its occupants, that hardly seemed like enough of a reason to give her the orb. Then again, perhaps he simply knew that if those Space Pirate things were to come back, he and the other primates wouldn't stand a chance against them. The orb was safest with those who had defeated them.

Her quiet pondering was interrupted, however, when Samus stepped suddenly through the hatch and into the living quarters. Zelda was surprised to see that the bounty hunter was not only out of her armor, but actually seemed to have changed into something more comfortable. She was wearing some kind of dark green flannel pants and a plain white shirt. Her long hair was out of its characteristic ponytail, and Zelda realized it was the first time she had seen Samus let her hair down.

Plain though her outfit was, the bounty hunter actually looked very pretty with her long blond hair down to her waist. Even through the baggy clothes, Zelda could still tell how strong the mercenary was and see the gentle outlines of her feminine curves. But most striking of all was the fact that Samus actually looked somewhat relaxed for a change. At least, she didn't look like she half-expected to be attacked without warning at any moment, and that was saying something as far as she was concerned.

"You took off your armor," Zelda said, only realizing once she had finished her sentence how obvious it was.

Samus nodded. "I didn't want to make you uncomfortable, you know… having to interact with the suit."

"That was very thoughtful you." Zelda smiled as she pulled the sleeping Pikachu onto her lap and moved over to one end of the couch. "Care to join me?"

Samus didn't answer, but she came around and sat down anyway. She looked like there was a lot on her mind, staring off blankly at the far wall.

"Everything all right, Samus?" Zelda asked, wondering what the hunter might be thinking about. They had barely spoken at all since they had gotten back from the jungle planet.

Samus shifted uncomfortably, trying to figure out what she wanted to say as she looked down at her hands folded in her lap and then up again at the wall. She was clearly struggling with something.

"You know that little monkey," she began, finally turning to Zelda but still unable to make full eye contact, "that little one you saved? With your healing magic?"

Zelda nodded. "Of course I do."

"I was pretty sure it was a goner… I didn't realize you actually possessed that much power."

Zelda wasn't sure where Samus was going with this conversation, but if the bounty hunter was this nervous about it, she knew it had to be about more to it than just the monkey.

"The other night," Samus continued, "when you heard… well, what happens when I sleep… you said there might be some way to help with my issues."

Zelda paused for a moment. She wasn't sure what to say to that. Samus was not generally so forward with her feelings, particularly not anything that involved asking for help. She wondered if the bounty hunter was actually beginning to trust her or if she was just that desperate to get some sleep.

"I can give it a try," Zelda replied, trying to think of the best way to approach this particular problem. It was unlike anything she had ever had to heal before given that Samus's body was fine, if not a little bruised up. The problem, in this case, was her mind, and Zelda didn't know how deep those mental wounds went or necessarily what had caused all of them.

"I would appreciate that," Samus said flatly. Her voice didn't betray much optimism, and Zelda wasn't sure the warrior thought there was actually anything she could do. It made her all the more curious as to why Samus was asking.

"Okay," Zelda said, trying to figure out how she wanted to approach this issue. "Turn around."

Samus raised an eyebrow at Zelda. "Um…"

"Around! I need to be facing your back." Zelda put her hands on Samus's shoulders and helped to guide the reluctant bounty hunter into the proper position. Once Samus's back was to her, Zelda lifted herself up and knelt on the seat of the couch facing Samus. Even when they were sitting, she was still quite a bit shorter than the bounty hunter.

Zelda studied Samus's long blonde hair and the gentle way it cascaded down her shoulders. It almost seemed out of place on the mercenary. Samus didn't seem like the type who would bother with something like keeping up with such long hair, but she had. It was a bit scraggly toward the ends, but aside from that it was quite well taken care of.

Closing her eyes and trying to focus her energy, Zelda raised her hands close to Samus's head. They began to glow with the same soft golden light she had used when she healed the monkey on the jungle planet. This would be a lot less straight forward than that had been, but Zelda was determined to try. It must not have been easy for Samus to ask for her help, and she was going to do everything in her power to make sure she received it.

The princess exhaled softly as she touched the back of Samus's head. She ran her fingers gently through the golden hair as the energy flowed between them. Samus gave an audible gasp at the sensation, but it didn't sound like she minded it. Her body only tensed slightly before relaxing again as the tips of Zelda's fingers gently massaged her scalp.

They could both feel the energy flowing between them now, and Zelda reached out with her magic to sense where any injuries might be on Samus's body. There were a lot of old, mostly healed up wounds and areas where bones had been broken at some point, but there didn't seem to be anything serious at the moment. That was good, at least. The only problem was that if she couldn't sense where the problems were, Zelda would have a much more difficult time healing them.

"Relax, Samus," she said as she felt the bounty hunter starting to tense up again.

Samus didn't relax though. Instead, her pulse began to quicken, and Zelda could feel the sudden rigidity in her muscles. She had a full view of Samus's body within her mind's eye even though her physical eyes were closed. She could sense the changing energies as the hunter tensed up. There was something coming together now, a cloudy sort of gray spot that seemed to be growing within Samus's  
"head." Though it was unlike anything she had ever encountered, Zelda decided that it must have been the source of the anxiety.

Reaching out with her magic, Zelda attempted to penetrate the swirling gray cloud, but even as she did so, it only grew larger. She could feel Samus's body tensing as it happened, but she ignored it, certain that this must have been what she had been looking for. But even as the golden light of her healing magic grew brighter, the gray mass grew larger and blacker until it was a swirling cloud of darkness that began to consume the image of Samus in her mind's eye.

The bounty hunter gasped again, but it wasn't the gentle sort of gasp from earlier. Zelda could feel Samus's body start to tremble, but she held tight, holding her ground as she tried to eradicate the darkness in Samus's mind. Every time she thought she was making progress, however, the shape would morph and grow, and each time it did so, Samus's body would grow tenser and begin to shake more violently.

The hunter was making half-strangled noises now as she struggled to breathe through the intensity of her hyperventilating. But Zelda wasn't giving up. She held tight to Samus's hair as she continued to do battle with the darkness within. No mater what she did, it continued to grow, and Zelda realized she needed to increase the intensity of her attacks against it. Taking a deep breath, she summoned the full force of her healing magic and launched an attack on it all at once.

There was a blinding flash of light, and Zelda found herself thrown violently to the ground. In the split second that she was falling, however, she had vision of something she had never seen before. The ground was running with rivers of blood. Slaughtered bodies, mangled and dismembered, were strewn about on the streets as buildings burned in the background. And as Zelda fell to the ground, she caught the briefest glimpse of a pair of glowing golden orange eyes as the sounds of a woman screaming filled the air.

As Zelda got her bearings, she lifted herself off the floor and opened her eyes, thankful to see she was back in the cabin of the ship and not wherever her vision had taken her. The only thing that remained, however, was the sound of a woman screaming.

She looked over her shoulder to see Samus huddled in a corner, practically rolled into a tiny ball as she trembled and shrieked. Not missing a second, Zelda rushed over to her, but she stopped just short of touching the bounty hunter. Samus was looking straight at her, absolute terror in her eyes.

She couldn't see her. It wasn't Zelda she was looking at. Her mind must have still been there, wherever Zelda's vision had taken her when Samus had thrown her to the ground. Slowly the princess knelt down beside her and reached out her hand. She didn't know what was going on, and it was making her nervous as well.

"Samus…" she called as she reached out to her. "Samus, it's okay."

"No!" Samus screamed, huddling closer to the ground and covering her head with her arms as though expecting Zelda to strike her.

The princess didn't know what to do. She had heard of episodes of soldiers re-experiencing battles from long ago, but this was the first time she had seen anything like it with her own eyes. It frightened her. Samus was breathing so quickly and shaking so violently, Zelda thought she might pass out.

"Samus," she tried again, saying the other woman's name as loudly but still gently as possible. "Samus Aran… It's me, Zelda. You're okay! You're safe! Everything is okay… the only ones here are me and Pikachu!"

Slowly, she tried reaching out her hand again, this time making contact with the bounty hunter's back. She rubbed it softly, hoping it would soothe her as she continued speaking in a soft voice.

"It's okay," she repeated, wondering if her words were actually helpful or if Samus was too far gone to know what she was saying. "It's okay, Samus. You're safe. We're on your ship, just you, me, and Pikachu. Everything is all right. You're okay…"

Samus's body began to move after a long while, and just as the princess was starting to give up hope, the mercenary looked up at her. Her eyes were still glazed over with the visions of the other place, but on some level she seemed to recognize Zelda. All at once, her body lurched forward, and Zelda managed to catch her and hold Samus's torso in her arms. The bounty hunter locked her muscular arms around the smaller woman, practically immobilizing her until her head fell down to rest on Zelda's chest.

Stunned by the suddenness of it, all Zelda could do was wrap her arms around Samus and gently pet her back as the bounty hunter hyperventilated and began to cry uncontrollably. There was nothing the princess could do, and she felt so helpless as Samus's brain continued to cycle through the episode and she was left to do battle all alone in her mind.

Eventually, Samus's breathing began to slow, and her trembling calmed down. She seemed to be muttering something in another language under her breath, some pattern of words that almost sounded like bird noises. There was a systematic rhythm to it, however, and the longer Samus continued to do it, the more in control of her body she seemed to become. Her breathing was still rough as she shakily pulled herself away from Zelda, but at least she looked more aware of where she was, even if her eyes were somewhat distant.

She pushed herself away from the princess and crawled a couple of feet away before her whole body made a sudden lurch and she vomited violently onto the metal floor. Zelda could only sit and stare as Samus's body jerked and vomited again. The bounty hunter spat a few times and wiped a trembling hand across her mouth as she tried to sit up.

Zelda was at her side in an instant, helping her to her feet when she realized the still-shaking Samus was trying to stand on unsteady legs. It was a quicker process to get Samus off the ground than Zelda had thought it would be, surprised once more by the mercenary's strength. She helped lead her over to the couch and guided Samus to sit down before coming back with a warm damp cloth and a glass of water.

Gently, she wiped the remaining flecks of vomit from Samus's face and offered her the water. Samus took a sip, swished it around in her mouth a little, and spat it out onto the metal floor before going back and drinking the rest of the water. Zelda supposed she should have been concerned with how dirty the floor was getting, but she cared more that Samus was coming back and they were getting some fluids into her.

When Samus finished the water, Zelda took the glass and refilled it before grabbing a pack of plain square crackers from the kitchen cabinet. She brought them back over to Samus, who took the crackers and ate a couple before drinking the second glass of water. Zelda offered to get her more water, but the hunter just shook her head and motioned for Zelda to take a seat beside her on the couch.

The princess did so, and the two of them just sat in silence for a long while. Neither was sure what to say about what had just happened. Eventually, Samus took the initiative to break the silence.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, her voice hoarse from screaming. "I'm really sorry that you saw that… and I'm sorry if I hit or pushed you at all. I just…"

"It's okay," Zelda said softly, feeling like she was repeating that phrase until it had lost all meaning to her. "You don't need to apologize. I'm sorry that whatever I did triggered that. I never meant to send you into an episode like that."

"Did you see it?" Samus asked, finally looking over at Zelda. Her blue yes were glassy and bloodshot, and her cheeks were blotchy from crying and throwing up. "Did you see what I saw?"

"I saw… something." Zelda wasn't sure how much she should say about the bodies and the river of blood. It had been such a vivid and gruesome vision that even she was starting to feel nauseous just thinking about it.

Samus just nodded. "You saw it. Part of it anyway."

"What was that place?"

The bounty hunter shook her head. "I actually see a lot of places when that happens. It's funny… the violence never bothers me when I'm fighting. It's when I'm home and trying to rest that it starts coming back to me like that. Almost as if I'm feeling everything I should have felt during my battle. I don't know if that makes sense…"

"I'm following." Zelda gently placed her hand on Samus's. "I know I can't relate completely, but I'm doing my best to understand."

Samus looked over at her, but the hunter's expression was unreadable. "You saw the massacre, didn't you? The blood everywhere and all the human bodies?"

Zelda pursed her lips together recalling the disturbing imagery. "Yes. And a set of eyes that looked like they belonged to that dragon."

"Ridley." Samus paused. "You brought up the other day about how my family was murdered."

"I'm really sorry abou—"

Samus held up a hand to stop her. "I don't need an apology. I'm just trying to tell you that that's what you saw. A moment from that day. I was about three years old and living with my human parents on a colony called K-2L. Space Pirates came and slaughtered everyone. My mother… she protected me from him. From Ridley. But it cost her life."

Zelda didn't say anything as Samus took a deep breath.

"I watched it," she continued, looking off into the distance as though visualizing the scene from long ago. "I saw Ridley kill my mother, and I watched as he devoured her body while I hid… That's my only memory of her. Throwing herself between me and Ridley and then being killed and eaten. And I was too scared to move."

"You were a child, Samus," Zelda said. "You couldn't have done anything."

Samus shook her head. "When I completed my warrior training, I swore that I would end him. I wouldn't let him hurt anyone else. And for a long time, I thought I had killed him during a mission to Zebes. And then again on Tallon IV. But every time I kill him, it's like he just comes back stronger than before."

"But you're still stronger," Zelda said with a gentle smile. "I saw you completely dominate him back in Hyrule. He doesn't stand a chance."

"It's a double-edged sword," Samus said. "As long as I know he's out there, I will hunt him to the edges of the universe. I won't let him do to anyone else what he did to my home planet… but I can't escape him either. I see it constantly. In dreams. In my waking hours. Every time I close my eyes. I see a lot of battles I've been in over the years, but when I know he's out there…"

Samus didn't have to finish that sentence. Zelda knew where she was going with it and just nodded. "We'll just have to find him then. And put an end to him once and for all."

The mercenary just looked down at the princess's delicate hand holding her own. "If we find him, and he did something to hurt you…"

She paused and pulled her hand away

"Samus?"

But Samus stood up and shook her head. Zelda thought she was about to walk off and lock herself in the cockpit again, but to her surprise, Samus didn't move.

"I won't let him," the mercenary muttered.

"What?"

She looked back at the princess still sitting on the couch. "I won't let him hurt you. I won't let anyone hurt you."


	13. Ch 13: Lightning Strikes, Maybe Once

**Author's Note:** I apologize for the delay in getting this up. Five days of non-stop migraines set me back quite a bit in all areas of my life. I'm catching up now though.

Thank you so much for everyone who read and reviewed last chapter and all of the chapters in this story so far. I hope y'all are getting off to a great start in 2018!

Anyway, I know you really just want to read the chapter so I'll cut this note short. Enjoy!

 **Chapter 13: Lightning Strikes, Maybe Once, Maybe Twice**

 _"I won't let anyone hurt you."_

The words replayed over and over in Samus's mind like a song stuck in her head. She was exhausted from her flashback and the resulting panic attack, but she found herself unable to sleep. Even within the solitary confines of her cockpit, she couldn't begin to rest.

What must Zelda think of her now? After seeing that blatant and disgraceful show of weakness? She should never have asked the princess to try to heal her. She knew better than that. Dozens of the best doctors in the Federation had tried, and in the end the best they had been able to do was give her sedatives for whenever an attack flared up. Everything else either hadn't had any effect on her or had made her so lethargic that the cure was worse than the affliction.

"Alien DNA," they had said, chalking each subsequent failure up to the fact that Samus wasn't really a human being anymore. There was no precedent for treating a human-Chozo hybrid. She was the only one of her kind. After a while, she had just stopped trying to do anything about it. It wasn't like her suffering affected anyone else. She could still get through her missions all right. The attacks always happened afterward.

The only person who really knew that it was something she still struggled with was Adam, and he had known that since she had served under him in the Federation Army. The fact that he had mentioned anything about it to Zelda was something Samus still couldn't figure out. Sure, he was right that she needed to sleep, but he must have known the princess would hear her screaming as nightmares ravaged her mind.

Adam never did anything without thinking it through. It was why he had been made a General in the Federation Army. What he had said to Zelda was intentional, and Samus knew he intended for Zelda to find out the bounty hunter's secret. Perhaps, as she had hoped in a moment of folly, he believed Zelda's magic might have been able to help her. Or maybe this was just another one of his attempts to get Samus to open up to another person instead of locking herself away in solitude when she wasn't in combat.

Whatever his intention had been, Samus knew her relationship with the princess sleeping in her cabin had just taken a major turn, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it.

She turned and laid on her right side, moving about in the reclined chair and trying to get comfortable. Her loose blond hair spilled around her face and down her shoulders. She ran her fingers through it and brushed it behind her back so it wouldn't be in the way. Sometimes she wondered why she bothered hanging onto something as useless as her hair.

It would be impossible to get to sleep with her mind racing like this, and lying there was just making her anxious. Instead, she sat up with a grunt and brought her chair back into the upright position. She stretched as she stood up, taking a moment to get her balance as the cockpit seemed to sway around her. She really was exhausted and thought about maybe taking something to help her sleep.

Instead of looking for her medicine, however, she found herself drawn to the hatch that led into the cabin. She paused in front of it for a moment, pressing her hand up against the cool metal. There was no reason for her to go in there. Logically, she should just turn around and go back to her chair, but she couldn't bring herself to do that.

 _You idiot,_ she thought to herself, still standing at the closed hatch. _Are you really doing this? Haven't you made enough bad decisions for one night?_

Logic wasn't working. Her brain was too tired to try to make sense of it anyway. She found herself opening the hatch and stepping silently into the cabin. Her bare feet made no sound on the metal floor as she walked over to the couch and looked down.

Zelda lay holding Pikachu in her arms, both snuggled under a heavy grey blanket. The princess's hair was silky and loose, and it looked strange to see it out of its usual prim form. Her chest gently rose and fell with her breathing as the little Pokémon nuzzled close to her.

Samus suddenly felt like a voyeur looking at them asleep, but something about watching it made her feel more at ease. They were both safe.

And even after seeing Samus at her weakest, Zelda was still here and felt safe enough to sleep on Samus's ship. The bounty hunter didn't know what to make of it. She supposed she should have been glad for it, to have someone stick around even after the episode, but it mostly scared her. She didn't like feeling the way she did. Attachment was something she had left behind long ago to become a solitary warrior. Too many people had died defending her, and she had made up her mind long ago not to let it happen again.

 _"I won't let anyone hurt you."_

Her own words came back to her once again as she watched Zelda fidget slightly, pulling the blanket up and hugging Pikachu tighter. She had meant it when she said she would never let anyone hurt Zelda. She would do everything in her power to protect the princess.

Not because she was royalty or because it was part of the mission, although those factors alone would have been enough. But because of how Zelda made her feel. She had just accepted her, even accepted her weakness. There had been no judgment even as she had held Samus and watched the bounty hunter cry. There had been no pity or disgust in her eyes as she had seen so many times in the faces of soldiers, doctors, and superior officers.

Only Adam had ever looked at her with understanding and compassion, and he had stood by and helped her discharge from the Army. Is that why he had known Zelda would respond the same way? Had he been able to tell that she was one of the rare people who could accept something like that?

Whatever his reasoning had been, Samus was thankful for it. She knew there would be no way she and Zelda could stay in each other's lives after this mission was over, but she was grateful they had this time together.

As the warrior looked down at the princess softly nestled in the warm blanket, she sighed. It was impossible for her to lie to herself about it anymore. Samus cared for Zelda. Deeply. Deeper than she knew she should allow herself to. And when this mission was over, she knew it would be all but impossible to let the princess go back to her world and never see her again, but she knew it would ultimately be the right thing. Regardless of how Samus felt, Zelda was safer distancing herself from the mercenary, and Samus would rather the princess live a long safe life without her than risk Zelda being killed.

 _"I won't let anyone hurt you."_

The words played through her head again, and she knew what they meant. If need be, she would gladly take bullets for Zelda. But realistically, it would mean something very different. It would mean letting her go. Zelda wasn't one of "those women" as she had referred to women like Samus who preferred the company of their own sex. She wouldn't be able to return the mercenary's feelings, and that was okay. It just meant she wouldn't be tempted to put herself in danger by trying to stay.

Samus had enough of feeling like a creepy voyeur watching her companions sleep and decided it would be best for her to try to get a little shut eye as well. Seeing that they were safe was enough to put her at ease, and she figured maybe this time she would succeed in getting some rest.

What she hadn't counted on, however, was Pikachu's eyes flicking open the moment she went to step back toward the cockpit. Samus froze as she caught the Pokémon's gaze and saw his lips twist into a teasing grin.

He mouthed the words " _Pi-ka-chu_ " as if to say "I caught you!" Then he looked down at the sleeping Zelda before looking back up at Samus.

"Don't you do it," the bounty hunter whispered in her most commanding tone, but it was already too late. Pikachu had made up his mind the moment he awoke to see her watching him and Zelda.

"PIKACHUUUU!" the Pokémon shouted as he pounced on top of the sleeping princess.

Zelda woke with a start, practically jumping out of her skin as she bolted upright on the couch and looked around. At first she looked nervous and disoriented, but once she remembered where she was, she seemed to calm down.

"Pikachu?" she asked, looking at the yellow rodent, but then her eyes turned to the bounty hunter who was quietly trying to inch her way back to the cockpit before she could be noticed. "Samus? What are you doing in here? Are you all right?"

Samus could feel her face turning red. It was bad enough she had gotten caught, but she hadn't expected the first words out Zelda's mouth to be inquiring about her wellbeing. It reminded her again why she felt the way she did about the princess, and she could feel than strange warm sensation in her stomach.

"I was… doing a security patrol," Samus muttered, unable to think of any better excuses. "Figured I'm supposed to be looking out for you and the Wonders and just wanted to make sure everything was all right."

Zelda smiled, but she didn't seem convinced. "Well, everything in here is just fine. Pikachu is a wonderful bed-warmer, and your ship has this night mode thing down to an art."

"I guess." Samus was only half paying attention to what she was saying. She could tell Zelda knew there was another reason the bounty hunter was in here.

"Look," Zelda said after a moment in that stern but gentle way she seemed to have mastered, "it's okay. You don't need to make excuses, Samus…"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Samus didn't like where this was going. It was one thing for Zelda to know that Samus was a lesbian, but it would be something completely different if the princess knew how she felt about her.

"I mean it, Samus." Zelda smiled in a way that was compassionate but also let Samus know she meant business. "I know it's not something you like to talk about, but if you're having nightmares again and can't sleep, you can just tell me. I don't mind sitting up with you as you calm down."

Samus felt like someone had punched her in the stomach, but oddly enough, in a good way. That hadn't been what she had expected Zelda to say at all, and it gave her an easy way out of this situation.

"I couldn't sleep," she said. It wasn't a lie. That really was why she had come out of the cockpit. "I just figured… I figured it would give me some peace of mind to see that you and Pikachu were all right."

Zelda laughed. "Is that all? Why didn't you just say that then?"

 _Good point,_ Samus thought to herself, _why didn't I just say that?_

"I didn't want to seem creepy," Samus blurted out before she had a chance to stop herself. For someone who was usually so quiet, she had a hard time controlling her words when she did decide to use them. "You know, most people don't like the idea of anyone watching them sleep…"

To Samus's surprise, Zelda just continued to smile as she looked back at the bounty hunter. "Most people may not like it, but I know it sets your mind at ease when you can see the ones you're protecting are all right. Why else do you think Pikachu and I decided to sleep out here instead of in the bedroom?"

"Pika pika." The Pokémon nodded.

Samus hesitated. "You did that so I could check on you?"

"If I've figured one thing out about you," Zelda said with a smirk, "it's that you act like the weight of the world is on your shoulders and you constantly need to make sure _every_ innocent creature you come across is safe."

Samus knew Zelda was thinking about the little monkey from the jungle world, possibly even the round pink thing Captain Falcon had been keeping in a jar.

"Well," Samus began, not really sure how to respond to that, "I guess all I can say is thank you. It really does help put my mind at ease…"

"I know," Zelda said, moving over on the couch and making room for Samus. "Why don't you join me and Pikachu out here? I know it's not really big enough for all three of use to fit, but if it makes you feel better, you should join our cuddle puddle."

Pikachu nodded enthusiastically, jumping onto Zelda's lap and beckoning for Samus to join them.

The bounty hunter wasn't sure what to do. On one hand, it would obviously make her feel better knowing her companions were safe, but on the other hand, she knew she'd never be able to sleep around them. As much as part of her wanted to join them on the couch, the thought terrified her. Even at this distance, it was like she could feel the warmth radiating off the princess's soft skin.

"I'll pass," Samus said, a bit more bluntly than she had intended. "I won't be able to sleep if there are people around me, and I don't want to keep you both up. I make enough noise from the cockpit as it is."

"Oh." There was a note of something in Zelda's tone, and Samus thought it sounded like disappointment. She brushed off the thought, though, figuring she was just projecting what she wanted to hear.

"PIKACHU!" the Pokémon screamed suddenly, jumping up in the air and pointing at something across the room. Both Samus and Zelda froze up as they looked over to it.

Before they had gone to bed, Samus and Zelda had locked the three Wonders into a case of missile-proof glass for safekeeping. To both of their relief, all three were still visible within the case, but something was happening. All at once, the yellow, blue, and green Wonders all began to glow as they levitated up off of the surface.

Zelda's eyes widened in amazement, and even Samus looked surprised by the sudden development. Before either of them had a chance to acknowledge it aloud, the three orbs began to spin, revolving vertically around some invisible center point.

Samus was about to say something when the space between the revolving Wonders began to light up almost like a holoscreen. They all watched in silence as the image of a woman began to appear. She was transparent and fading in and out of view, but they could make out that she appeared to be a young blonde woman wearing a crown of some sort. She was wearing a strangely puffy pink dress, and Samus wondered if she was from some distant planet or some long ago past.

" _Greetings_ ," the hologram of the woman said as she looked out at them. Like a recording, she seemed unable to see them. " _I don't know how much time we have or who this message will find. For centuries my family and my kingdom have acted as the official Guardians of this._ " She held out red sphere that seemed to flicker in and out of focus with the rest of her. " _Now we are under attack by forces we've never encountered before. Our armies are on the brink of collapse, and I know we will not be able to protect this artifact from them much longer._

 _"I'm sending out this message in hopes that whomever receives it is not a hostile entity as they must have already collected several of the other Wonders for this message to come through. Whatever these beings assailing us are, they must have been powerful enough to travel between worlds as easily as we sail across oceans. I only pray that those receiving this message are equally powerful and can come to our aid before it is too late._

 _"Please, if you receive this message, help my kingdom. Your aid is our only hope."_

The image of the woman slowly faded and was replaced by something that looked like a map of planets or constellations somewhere in the galaxy. Samus knew Zelda couldn't make heads or tails out of it, but the mercenary made a mental picture of what it looked like. At this point, she had become very adept at reading interplanetary maps, and she recognized it as a sector of the Uranian Quadrant. The planet, from which she assumed the message had come, was marked in red.

Without saying anything to Zelda or Pikachu, Samus hurried off into the cockpit while the image was still fresh in her mind. She pulled up several holoscreens, each with images of the various sectors of the Uranian Quadrant. It didn't take her long to find the planet she was looking for, and as she zoomed into it, she pulled up its data.

Planet MK-91385. According to her scans, there was little to no data about the planet, which meant either that the Galactic Federation had never sent a research team to the planet, or the Grand Council had deemed it unethical to disturb any sentient beings living there. Samus figured that in this case, it was probably the latter given that some sort of humanoid female monarch had just sent a distress signal from the planet.

Then again, she reasoned, there was no guaranty that the distress message was recent. It may have been made millennia ago. For all Samus knew, MK-91385 may have been a long dead planet, possibly having fallen to whoever the invaders had been. There was only one way to find out for sure, however, and as Samus reset the ship's course, she entered the coordinates for the unknown planet. If it was currently being attacked by beings from another world, there was no doubt in her mind that it was Space Pirates. The last thing she needed was for one of the Wonders to fall into their hands and be taken back to Ridley.

"Samus?" Zelda's voice called from behind her, and Samus looked back to see the princess standing in the entryway to the cockpit. "Do you know where that woman was? Do you think we can get there in time?"

Samus grunted as she stood up and walked over to the sealed closet where she kept her pressurized flight suits. "We're on our way to her planet now. Whether she sent the message five minutes ago or five thousand years ago, I have no idea." She paused as she pulled her standard light blue jumpsuit from the closet. "Did you know the Wonders could do that?"

"You mean act like some sort of communication spell?"

"Yeah."

Zelda shook her head. "I hardly know anything at all about the Seven Wonders. Up until you and Pikachu showed up in Hyrule, I wasn't certain they were even real."

Samus raised an eyebrow at that. "Even though theoretically your triangle is one?"

Zelda shifted uncomfortably. "I mean, theoretically it is one… in theory."

Samus didn't say anything, but she stood for a long while holding the flight suit and waiting for Zelda to leave.

"Is everything all right, Samus?" the princess asked.

"Yeah. I'm just waiting for you to go back into the cabin so I can close the door and get dressed."

"Oh." Zelda seemed genuinely surprised. "I didn't realize you were… um… quite so modest."

"I'm… not." Samus wasn't sure how to respond to that. "I just thought people in your world were. I mean, you teleport you clothes on and off. I didn't know if it would freak you out if I just started stripping in front of you."

Zelda's face suddenly turned beet red, and Samus tried to figure out what she had said to cause that level of embarrassment.

"Um…" the mercenary backtracked, now completely baffled by the turn of events. "That is… unless I guess you don't mind that or want to see me get undressed or—"

"No!" Zelda put up her hands, her face getting steadily redder. "That's okay. You can leave your clothes on, Samus. I don't mind."

"Er…" Samus just stared at the princess who still hadn't left the cockpit but seemed to be having some kind of internal panic attack. "I mean, I really can't just leave these clothes on." She gestured to her tee shirt and pajama pants. "I need to put on my jumpsuit, so either you can stay in here and watch me get naked or—"

"I'll go into the cabin!" Zelda shouted a bit too abruptly, causing Samus to raise an eyebrow and tilt her head in confusion.

"Okay… I'm sorry. I didn't realize my body bothered you that much."

"It doesn't, Samus! You're the most handsome woman I've ever met!"

Silence.

Samus opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

"I just mean," Zelda said, clearly trying to compose herself but still seeming flustered, "you know when people chisel statues of idyllic human figures to decorate the castle gardens, you're build like you could be one of them except with a bunch more scars."

"So… you think I look like a damaged lawn ornament?"

Zelda's face fell in apparent defeat. "No. Kind of… I meant it as a compliment, but it came out wrong."

Samus just nodded, trying to understand. It must have been some kind of figure of speech back on Hyrule. "Well, for what it's worth, you look kind of like brassy fountain sculpture." Samus smiled in an attempt to be warm. "One that mostly hasn't gotten all weird and green yet."

Zelda gave her a look somewhere between bemusement and complete exasperation. It was a weird mixture of intrigue, embarrassment, and defeat. "Thank you, Samus."

"You're welcome," the bounty hunter replied in her best effort to be polite. As awkward as it felt to give Zelda such a compliment, she was pretty sure she had nailed it and was finally starting to pick up on the Hylian vernacular. "Anyway, as I was saying, I set a course for planet MK-91385. We should be there in about fifteen minutes at this point. So I'm going to get dressed now."

"Right. You do that." Zelda just nodded as she turned and exited though the hatch, hitting the button to close it behind her.

As the hatch closed, Samus stripped off her pajamas and threw them into the bottom of the closet before slipping into the blue body suit that felt like a second skin to her. Once she was all dressed, she pulled her hair back into a high ponytail and closed her eyes. As she focused on activating the power suit, the pink Chozo symbols on her jump suit began to glow, and within seconds she was once again enveloped in the golden orange light that slowly faded to reveal her standing once more in her infamous Varia Suit.

With a deep breath and a smug grin, she sat back down in her pilot's seat and prepared for entry into the MK-91385 atmosphere. She felt much more comfortable in this setting, doing what she had been built for. Battles and violence were something with which she was well acquainted, and they had been the only stable constant throughout her life.

It was time for her to go rescue a princess. Again.


	14. Ch 14: And It Lights Up the Night

**Author's Note:** I apologize the past couple of chapters have been a little on the slow side. I've just had a lot going on. I'm still here though, and I wanted to make sure I put a lot of thought into writing this next world in a way that would still feel true to the source material but also fit into this story. I hope I managed to do a good job with that.

I went back and forth on a few aspects of it, but overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and even though the wait was a bit longer, the chapter is also a bit longer than usual. So please enjoy and let me know what you think! Thank you for all of your reviews so far!

 **Chapter 14: And It Lights Up the Night**

The planet MK-91385 was not exactly what Zelda had imagined when she had heard the mysterious princess's hologram message. She wasn't sure exactly what she had expected to find when they landed, but she certainly hadn't expected a land that looked similar to Hyrule in some ways. Standing on top of the ship beside Samus, they gazed down at a valley filled with buildings that looked much more similar to the small houses of Hyrule than the massive skyscrapers of Port Town.

Off in the distance, the princess could see a castle not too different from her own. It was surrounded by high stone walls and a mote with a drawbridge. There was a large stained glass window over its front gate, and though Zelda couldn't make out its image from this distance, she thought it resembled the silhouette of a woman. She had a hundred questions about the place but she held off on asking any. From what Samus had told her, it seemed neither the mercenary nor the Galactic Federation government had much information available about this planet.

"Shall we?" Samus asked suddenly, turning to look down at Zelda with her eyes visible through the green visor. It took Zelda a moment to realize what Samus meant until she noticed the armored hand extended toward her.

"Oh," Zelda said, taking her hand. "Yes. Let's go."

With her usual effortless grace, Samus lifted Zelda up in her arms and held her bridal-style close to her chest. Zelda half-expected the usual rush of adrenaline she got when being swept up by the bounty hunter in just a fashion, but something about it fell flat this time. As she felt herself held against the armor as they jumped from the ship, Zelda found herself wishing that Samus could hold her again without the armor. Somehow, in such a short period of time, she had grown accustomed to the warmth of the mercenary's skin, and feeling the cold metal of the armor was a stark reminder of their situation. They were here to complete a mission, and that was all.

"Are you all right?" Samus asked as she set Zelda down on the ground beside her.

The princess frowned subconsciously as she looked up at the tall bounty hunter. "I'm fine."

"Okay…" Samus didn't seem to buy it. "I guess I half expected you to change into Sheik again and insist on jumping down yourself."

"This doesn't seem like the kind of planet that calls for that transformation. We received a message from a princess of some sort. My royal attire is much better suited for matters of diplomacy between our worlds if it comes down to it."

Samus shrugged and looked away, staring down the cliff to the small patch of woods below. "You seemed uncomfortable with me carrying you. You were stiff."

Zelda felt her body tense up. She couldn't very well tell Samus it was because she preferred the mercenary to slip into something a little more comfortable before sweeping her off her feet.

"Being pinned against your armor isn't exactly comfortable," Zelda said, and she immediately regretted it as Samus looked back at her.

"Noted," the hunter said gruffly as Zelda flinched. "I'll let you use your magic to get in and out of the ship from now on if that's what you prefer."

Zelda didn't know what to say to that, so she kept her mouth shut. There was no good way to follow that up, and it wasn't like she was incapable of getting on and off the ship. Why she had been allowing Samus to carry her all this time was beyond her. She could have just as easily summoned Farore's Wind.

Without another word, Samus raised her arm cannon and began to walk down on of the more shallow slopes of the hill toward the castle in the distance. Zelda tried her best to follow along, but her shoes were not meant for navigating the uneven terrain like Samus's boots were. She fully expected that she would fall behind, but for some reason, slow as her progress was, Samus was never more than two or three steps ahead of her at a given time. Even with her back turned, the mercenary still had an uncanny intuition for Zelda's needs.

When they reached the bottom of the hill, they found themselves in the small patch of woods. It didn't stretch very far, and Zelda could navigate this terrain better than the incline. She wondered if this was why Samus had asked her about switching into Sheik, but she still stood by the fact that her royal attire would be better once they reached the castle.

She also wondered if she had offended Samus with her remark about how it wasn't very comfortable to be held against the cold armor. It wasn't a lie exactly; it was much less comfortable than being held against her warm chest. Still Zelda had to admit she'd rather Samus hold her in the armor than not hold her at all. She wasn't sure why. She just felt safe in the bounty hunter's arms.

"Do you hear that?" Samus asked suddenly.

Zelda paused to listen. "I don't hear anything."

"Exactly. Normally an area this dense with flora would be teeming with native fauna, but I don't hear anything. Scans are picking up biosigns in the area, but none of the animals are making any noise."

"Maybe they're just very quiet animals?" Zelda guessed. She had no idea what to expect of the creatures on an alien world.

"I doubt it. The quietest animals are typically predators, and there's no way an ecosystem could sustain a population made up solely of predators. Something's not right here."

Zelda wanted to say something else, but by the time she went to speak, she realized they were already at the edge of the woods. She shielded her eyes from the harsh sun as they stepped out into what appeared to be the little village she had seen from the top of the cliff. In the distance, she could make out the shape of a castle, and now she was certain the image on the stained glass was that of a woman. She looked vaguely like the woman from the hologram earlier, and Zelda was certain they had come to the right place.

There was something exciting about being back in an area that reminded her so much of Hyrule. It put a little extra spring in her step as she and Samus stepped out onto the dirt road between the houses. However, just as in the forest, they quickly realized something was wrong.

"Where are all the people?" Zelda asked, taking a step closer to Samus. The little cottages looked like they must have been maintained recently. Flowerboxes sat under several windows and everything in the area seemed neat and orderly.

Samus looked around silently, an action Zelda had come to recognize meant the mercenary was "scanning" the area.

"They're all inside their houses," Samus said just as Zelda noticed someone staring at her through one of the windows. However, as soon as the princess turned to get a better look at whoever it was, they vanished. She couldn't make the person out clearly, but they appeared to be very strange looking as far as she could tell.

"Did you see that?" she asked and Samus nodded.

"From what my thermal scans tell me they appear almost humanoid in form, albeit much smaller and they seem to have… some kind of massive tumors growing out of their heads."

"What?"

"They look almost like anthropomorphic mushroom clouds."

"What's a—"

"Sorry, I forgot you don't have nuclear technology where you're from. It's the cloud of smoke and debris that erupts following the explosion of a nuclear bomb."

Zelda paused as she looked up at Samus. "Do you think they were hit by a bomb? Is that why they're shaped like that?"

Samus seemed confused for a moment but shook her head. "No, it's just how they're shaped. I don't know why. Maybe the massive head tumors protect them from the sun or contain water or something…"

"I suppose anything is possible," Zelda said, but she really wasn't paying attention. She kept looking back to the window where she was certain she had seen someone looking out at her. She had just assumed given the way the area and the hologram princess looked that the denizens of this planet would be human, but the description Samus gave of them combined with what she thought she had seen in the window gave her chills.

Samus continued walking down the dusty street, her boots leaving deep imprints in the dirt. Zelda found herself wondering exactly how heavy Samus's armor was and how the mercenary managed to wear it all of the time.

The princess lingered a couple of steps behind, not because she felt she needed to, but because she wanted to look around some more and see if she could spot anymore people looking out at her. She must not have been paying attention to what was in front of her because she nearly collided with Samus's outstretched arm. She stopped just in time to realize the bounty hunter had come to a halt and was staring at something a little ways off.

Zelda looked to the right, the direction in which Samus was gazing. Past the line of cottages, there was a tall silver fountain along another dirt road. The area around the fountain, however, was paved with cobblestones similar to those on the streets of Castle Town. It was interesting to see that despite how desolate the town looked, the fountain was still functioning, but even more exciting was the fact that there was a man standing beside it.

There was nothing particularly remarkable or alien-looking about the man. He was rather tall with curly dark hair and a thick mustache. He was wearing blue overalls with a green shirt and matching hat emblazoned with the letter "L". He must have been as apprehensive about Samus and Zelda as the princess felt about him because he regarded them both very cautiously as they approached him, but he didn't back down.

"Greetings," Samus said in her deep synthetic voice as they were within a couple of meters of the man. He seemed a bit more on edge when he realized just how high the bounty hunter towered over him. "We're here looking for someone and thought perhaps you could help us."

"Mama Mia!" the man exclaimed in a surprisingly high pitched voice. "That'sa definitely notta the way to approach-a someone if you're just asking directions!" He pointed to Samus's cannon arm, which was still raised and pointing forward, specifically at the man in the green hat. "You mind-a putting that thing-a down?"

"That depends," Samus said, "on whether you give us the information we're seeking or you prove to be a hostile, in which case I will be forced to terminate you immediately."

"Um—" Zelda interjected, quickly taking a step between Samus and the man, "what my companion means to say is that this is our first time on this planet, and we're just trying to be careful. We're actually here on something of a mission, you see. We received a message from a woman who said her kingdom was under attack and were wondering if you had any idea who she might be?"

The man's eyes lit up, and he nodded enthusiastically. "Oh! You must-a mean the Princess Peach?"

"Whatever her name is," Samus said in her deep voice, still holding the cannon trained on the man's heart, "tell us where we can find her."

Zelda rolled her eyes and pushed Samus's gun down as she gave the bounty hunter an exasperated look. She normally appreciated the mercenary's efficiency, but she was as diplomatic as a pile of cucco dung.

"Please excuse my partner," Zelda said, turning back to the man. "Samus is an excellent warrior but was raised by a flock of birds and never figured out how manners work." She could feel Samus glaring at her even though her back was turned. "Anyway, I am Zelda, Princess and Heir to the Throne of Hyrule. What's your name?"

"Hmm…" The man looked between Zelda and Samus, trying to figure them out but ultimately ending up just as confused as before. "Imma Luigi. This-a here is Toad Town, a little village within-a the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Mushroom Kingdom," Samus repeated. "That explains your planet's designation as MK-91385, so I'm assuming you have had contact with the Galactic Federation at some point?"

"Eh…" Luigi looked confused. "Notta that I know of, butta my brother… he's been all over the galaxy to collectta the Power Stars."

"I have no idea what a Power Star is," Samus said, "but you haven't answered my question yet. Where is this Princess Peach? And what are these creatures from another world attacking your planet?"

"Eh…" Luigi seemed to grow pale at the question. "That'sa justta the problem! We don'ta know where the princess is! She'sa been kidnapped by Bowser of the Koopa Kingdom again. And my brother… he'sa how you do say… _very well acquainted_ with the princess, but even he can'ta find her. He tried storming Bowser's Castle and thought that he'da gotten through, butta there was a Toad there who tella him his princess wasn't there. She was in another castle!"

"That's weirdly specific." Samus said. "How many castles can you have around this place?"

"We gotta whole lotta castles!" Luigi exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air in frustration.

"And I'm assuming," Zelda said, pointing to the nearby castle with the stained glass window, "that this is Princess Peach's castle? So it's a safe bet she isn't in there?"

"Definitely not inna there. She's been taken prisoner in the Koopa Kingdom, and the Toads-a here, they are terrified! This isn't like when she normally gets-a kidnapped!"

"Normally?" Samus asked, but Zelda and Luigi ignored her.

"Luigi," Zelda asked gently, "what's so different about this time?"

"The Space-a Pirates!"

"Space Pirates?" Samus asked, getting really tense like a tightly coiled spring ready to snap. "Where are they? Tell me how to get to them!"

"I don'ta know!" Luigi exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air again. "They were attacking relentlessly, but then when Peach-a got kidnapped, they disappeared. It's like they only wanted her!"

"I bet that means," Samus said, looking down at Zelda finally, "that wherever she is, she's got the Wonder with her. That's why the Pirates backed out of this place. That's what they're really after." She turned to Luigi again. "You said you've got a brother who's hooking up with the princess? Take us to him so we can get the information out of him that we need to find her."

"No needa to find him," Luigi said, pointing to another man walking toward them from the direction of Peach's Castle. "He'sa coming this way!"

As Zelda and Samus turned to look at the second man, Luigi ran over to him. Zelda was struck by the man's resemblance to Luigi. He and his brother looked almost identical except that this new brother was shorter and stockier. His shirt and hat were red instead of green, but he wore the same overalls.

"This guy better talk," Samus said gruffly. "I don't want to have to beat the information out of Luigi and Red Luigi over there."

Zelda glared at her. "Can you think of anything other than violence? Clearly, we're all on the same side here. We all need to get Princess Peach back from this Bowser guy! You threatening people with your cannon isn't helping anything!"

Samus paused, and for a second Zelda thought the hunter was going to argue with her, but she actually relaxed her posture slightly. "I'm sorry. I know I'm not particularly… charismatic. I'm not used to coming to planets like this and dealing with non-hostiles. Normally, shooting first and asking questions later is the best course of action."

A chill ran up Zelda's spine as she got the impression that Samus did not normally travel to any of the sorts of planets she had seen since joining her on her ship. If the hunter's aggressive demeanor with Luigi was any indication, she was much more accustomed to dealing with the likes of Ridley than Captain Falcon or the giant ape. Zelda found herself wondering what the world must look like to Samus for her to be ready for a fight to the death all of the time, even in a place as obviously non-threatening as Toad Town.

"It's okay, Samus," Zelda said, gently placing a hand on Samus's. "Just let me take the lead with the diplomacy, okay? I really think these guys are on our side, and working with them is going to be the best course of action for this mission."

Samus just stared at Zelda silently through the opaque visor. Eventually, she nodded and then turned to look up as the Luigi brothers approached.

"Questa è la principessa," Luigi said to his brother as he gestured toward Zelda. "Si chiama Zelda." He then gestured to Samus. "E questo é un uomo terrificante."

"Mama mia!" said the shorter of the two brothers. "You didn't tell me that the Princess came here with-a Samus Aran, the best-a bounty hunter in the universe!"

Samus's helmet hid her face, but Zelda could imagine the mercenary staring blankly at the short man.

"Don'ta you remember me?" he asked as Samus continued to stare in silence. "It's-a me! Mario!"

"Oh," Samus said after a few more silent moments. "You're that guy."

"You do remember! We metta up in that bar in the Lylat System. You said you was-a resting up to kill-a you mother or something…"

Zelda gave Samus a nervous look, but the mercenary sighed and shook her head. "Mother Brain. I was resting up and having a drink because I was going on a mission in a few days to take out Mother Brain. She was an advanced administrative andro— er… she was a giant brain monster that lived in a jar."

Zelda didn't know what Samus had originally been describing, but she could tell she had simplified it to something Zelda could understand. Whatever a mother brain was, it obviously wasn't something they had back in Hyrule.

"Luigi told-a me you both came here to save Princess Peach!" Mario grinned, his large mustache giving his face a rather cartoony quality.

"That's right," Zelda said with a soft smile. "We received a distress signal from her, and we want to help. We're looking for a series of treasures called the Seven Wonders, and we're trying to get to them before the Space Pirates do."

Mario and Luigi both shuddered at the mention of the Space Pirates.

"They are a very scary bunch, those Space-a Pirates," Mario said. "We're gonna need all-a the help we can get! And-a who better than the legendary Samus Aran to take-a them out?"

Zelda looked up at Samus again. The hunter remained stoic and stationary as the sunlight reflected off of her golden armor. She couldn't help but smile at how regal Samus looked, and she felt proud to be standing beside a woman who was clearly a beacon of hope for so many in the galaxy, if Mario's reaction to her was any indication. Tough as she may have acted, Samus was really one of the good guys at heart, and Zelda could feel warmth enveloping her body just thinking about her and remembering how she had saved her from Ridley, even going so far as to use her own body as a shield.

"You wanna us to show you to a room at the castle?" Mario asked.

Zelda snapped out of her reverie and looked away from Samus and toward Mario. "You're offering us a room?"

"Of course," said Luigi. "You didn'ta think we were just-a going to storm off into battle without coming up with a plan, did you?"

"We don't need a room," Samus interjected suddenly. "Just point me in the direction of this Bowser guy, and let me handle it. I'll take him and the Space Pirates out myself."

Zelda frowned. Samus may have been ready to rush off into battle, but it hadn't even been a full day since her flashback incident. And Zelda knew she hadn't slept a wink since then. To anyone else, she might have seemed as fine as ever, but the princess remembered what Adam had told her. She could still see the images of Samus's panic and remember the clamminess of the mercenary's skin as she had held her. There was no way she wanted her to go up against the enemies they were describing, not before she got some actual rest now that it was an option.

"We'd love a room," Zelda said gently. "I'm absolutely exhausted, and I think it would do me well to rest up a little before the fight."

Samus didn't say anything, but Zelda felt like she was glaring at her through the visor and ignored it.

"It'sa settled then!" Mario exclaimed, jumping up in the air with his fist raised. "We'll getta you two a room and letta you rest up before we all go off on a mission to rescue the princess!"

"Um… Mario," Luigi said. "Sholdn't we getta them two rooms? We don'ta want to make the princess uncomfortable, sharing a room with-a the bounty hunter."

It took Zelda a moment to realize the two brothers thought Samus was a man, but she didn't have a chance to correct them.

"Oh," Mario said, brushing off his brother's concerns. "They'lla be fine." He winked at Zelda. "I think-a I know _amore_ when I see it!"

Zelda didn't know what Mario had just said, but she could feel the blood rushing into her cheeks at what he seemed to be implying. Luigi was blushing as well, and Zelda got the impression he was the more shy of the two brothers.

"Oh, Samus isn't—" Zelda began, but she got cut off.

"Relax," Samus said in her deep synthetic voice as she awkwardly placed her free hand on Zelda's shoulder. "They were going to figure it out sooner or later… Honey."

Zelda grimaced as the most confusing emotions flooded her body. On one hand, she wanted to cringe at Samus's very unconvincing attempt to act like they were a couple, but on the other hand she could feel that relaxing warmth spreading through her body from where the bounty hunter's hand rested on her shoulder. She wished she could lean into Samus's chest, fall asleep, and wake up beside her back in Hyrule to discover this whole mission was just a bad dream. Well, that the parts with Ganon and the Space Pirates were a bad dream anyway…

"So it'sa settled," Mario said, once again flashing his comical grin. "You both-a sleep in the same bedroom. You follow Luigi now! He knows-a the way!"

Samus just nodded as she took her hand off of Zelda's shoulder and reached for the princess's hand. Zelda smiled as she took Samus's hand in her own. Even if it was covered by the armor, she was still thankful for the opportunity to hold her hand, but more importantly, she was thankful to get Samus to rest finally.

It didn't take them long to walk the rest of the way to Peach's Castle, and Zelda was too lost in her own thoughts to pay attention for most of the way. She wondered exactly how many people in the universe knew Samus was actually a woman or what the bounty hunter thought about the fact that both Mario and Captain Falcon had assumed they were a couple. It piqued her curiosity, and she found herself wondering what someone like Samus would be like in a relationship. With as masculine as Samus could come across, she wondered just how much different it would be than being in a relationship with a man.

She tried to distract her mind from going to those sorts of places, but there was something about walking along with Samus's hand in hers, pretending to be lovers, that made her mind race with possibilities. It wasn't until they were outside the heavy wooden door of the bedroom and Samus let go of her hand that her mind snapped back into reality.

"Here we are!" Luigi said, putting a large key into the door and opening it to reveal the large bedroom.

Like Hyrule Castle, the walls and floor were mostly made of gray stone. There was a single window, but it was high above the ground, and it had heavy iron bars over it. There was not much in the sparse room, but right in the center of the wall was a large circular bed, and its comforter and pillows were pink, poofy, and seemed to match the dress of the princess they had seen in the hologram.

"I know whatta you're thinking," Luigi said. "Princess Peach is a really big fan of pink, and most-a of the rooms in the castle have a similar color scheme. I hope that'sa not a problem?"

"It's just fine," Zelda said with her most charming smile. "Thank you so much for your hospitality and allowing us to stay here."

"It'sa no problem," Luigi said with a sheepish grin. "I hope that Mario wasn'ta too blunt for you back there. He doesn'ta always know when to be tactful."

"Oh, I understand," Zelda said, taking Samus's hand again. "This one here has the same problem."

Luigi blushed again as he handed Zelda the key. "Please letta me know if there's anything else I canna do for you."

Zelda just smiled and nodded at him as he turned to leave. Then she and Samus dropped each other's hands and went into the bedroom, closing and locking the door behind them.

The princess breathed a sigh of relief. It was true that she was still every bit as tired as she claimed to be. Even if she hadn't been the one to have the flashback, it had not been an easy night aboard the ship. She couldn't imagine how Samus was feeling.

With a small smile, Zelda gestured toward the bed. "I'll let you lay down and get some rest first. Then we can switch off if you want to do it that way."

Samus just stared blankly at her, posture as stiff as ever. "I'm not sleeping here."

Zelda frowned. "Samus, I know you don't like sleeping in strange places, but you really do need some rest. I know you're exhausted under there, no matter how tough you act."

Still, the bounty hunter didn't move. "You know what will happen even if I do fall asleep."

"I know," Zelda said gently, "but behind closed doors, no one will know which of us is shouting. We can say it was me, and there will be no need for anyone to find out."

Samus didn't moved, and Zelda yawned.

"Please at least take your armor off an lay down for a little while. You don't have to sleep, Samus, but please get some rest."

The bounty hunter shifted her weight uncomfortably as she thought about it. Then, slowly, she was enveloped in that golden orange light as she suit faded from view, leaving only Samus in her form-fitting blue jumpsuit.

"Fine," she relented as she took a couple of cautious steps toward the bed. "I'll close my eyes for a little while, but I won't sleep. You've got to promise to get some rest too though. I know you couldn't have slept well with everything I had going on."

The last statement caught Zelda off guard, but she smiled. "Of course, Samus. We can lay down together." She didn't know why, but her heart began to beat faster at the concept of lying side by side with her companion.

Samus just nodded as she walked over to the bed cautiously and inspected it more like it was a recent crime scene than somewhere to rest. Eventually, she sat on top, swung her legs over, and awkwardly placed her head on one of the pillows as she curled into a stiff fetal position. She did not look happy.

Zelda didn't say anything, but the reluctant mercenary looked so ridiculous laying on the fluffy bed with an expression on her face like she was trying to resist torture. She supposed she should have said something to ease her discomfort, but instead, she just kicked off her shoes and crawled onto the opposite side of the bed.

"This isn't so bad," Zelda said, trying to get Samus to loosen up a bit. "It's actually really comfortable."

Samus just remained stiff, her back turned to the princess. "Just get some sleep. Then we can go take out that Bowser guy and the Space Pirates, get our Wonder, and get out of here."

Zelda sighed. "I'm surprised you're even staying here then if you're so anxious about getting the Wonder."

Samus rolled over to face her, her expression earnestly concerned. "I couldn't just leave you here by yourself, and you said you were tired."

Zelda wasn't sure what to say to that. "I'm surprised you're prioritizing me over finding the Wonder." She tried to brush it off as a joke, but her attempt fell short. It was too obvious that she meant it.

"You shouldn't be," Samus said. "I swore I wouldn't let anyone hurt you. I take that kind of thing seriously. There's no way I'd leave you by yourself on a strange planet."

Without realizing what she was doing, Zelda reached her hand forward and gently placed it on Samus's shoulder. The mercenary flinched at the touch and closed her eyes. She looked like she was expecting to be hit, and Zelda thought she looked like a trapped, feral animal.

"It's okay," Zelda said, moving a bit closer and softly rubbing Samus's shoulder and upper back. "You're all right. Nothing is going to happen to me. I'm here with you, Samus. And as long as I'm with you, I know I'm safe no matter what planet we're on."

Samus opened her eyes and was breathing heavily as she looked at Zelda. There was something desperate and searching about her eyes, and the princess didn't know what it was until Samus reached forward suddenly and pulled her into a tight embrace.

Zelda gasped as that familiar warmth flooded her once more and her entire body relaxed into Samus's strong arms. She curled up her arms and rested them just below Samus's heart as she rested her head on her chest. She could feel the mercenary tenderly running her fingers through her hair and holding her protectively as though she were something very precious, something the hunter cherished.

Neither woman said anything, but Zelda snuggled deep into Samus's chest. She listened to the strong, steady sound of the hunter's heartbeat, and before she knew it, she was fast asleep in Samus's arms.


	15. Ch 15: Rooms on Fire

**Author's note:** Thank you once more to everyone who read, reviewed, and/or wrote to me last chapter. I was so glad to finally have our two leading ladies embrace! :)

This chapter is also slightly on the long side. I've been really busy lately, and I'm sorry to anyone I haven't had a chance to write back to. Please enjoy this chapter and I will answer messages as soon as I can!

 **Chapter 15: Rooms on Fire**

Samus felt groggy as she opened her eyes. She wasn't sure what had happened or where she was at first, so she was certain she had nodded off for a bit. It didn't take her long to realize the she was lying on top of a bed in some kind of stone castle. That seemed weird enough on its own, but then she realized she wasn't in her power suit and suddenly felt herself tense up. It wasn't like her to fall asleep in a strange place, especially not without her armor.

She was about to jump up and bolt out of the bed when she suddenly realized she couldn't feel her left arm. Something was on top of it, and that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. But as she looked down to see what was trapping her numb limb, she saw something that instantly made her tension fall away. She sighed as she let her guard down and gently ran her free hand through the hair of the sleeping Princess Zelda snuggled up to her chest. She remembered everything now.

Wrapping her free arm once again around Zelda's body, she gently pulled the numb one loose, taking care not to disturb the princess's slumber. When at last she got it free, she flexed her hand a few times and felt the feeling beginning to return with a pins and needles sensation.

 _I fell asleep?_ Samus thought to herself as she watched Zelda's chest rise and fall with her soft breathing. She gently stroked the princess's hair and back as she studied her. She seemed even more delicate in her sleep, and it made Samus feel all the more protective of her.

 _I fell asleep with her so close? In a strange place? While I was unarmed?_

It was a baffling and somewhat disturbing discovery for the bounty hunter. She never fell asleep in strange places or around anyone else. She hadn't slept in the same room as anyone else since her Army days. Even on the rare occasions when she had woken up to find herself in hospitals, the staff had always made sure to get her a private room as per the official notes from General Adam Malkovich that appeared on her medical file.

So how had she actually fallen asleep with Zelda so close? Not that she was complaining. She ran her fingers through the princess's long brown hair once more and over the delicate material of her gown. It felt a bit creepy to watch Zelda sleep like this, but she doubted the princess would mind. After all, she had trusted Samus enough to fall asleep in her arms and lay so peacefully undisturbed.

Undisturbed.

Samus's eyes grew wide as she looked down at Zelda and hugged her even closer into her chest. If Zelda was still this sound asleep after Samus had also been asleep beside her, nothing must have happened that would have woken her up. More specifically, Samus realized with a jolt of nervous excitement, she had actually slept without screaming or violently thrashing in her sleep. And if the numbness in her arm was any indication, they had been in that position for quite some time.

 _How?_ She wondered if Zelda had used some kind of magic to keep her from screaming, but she doubted it. She remembered watching the princess fall asleep as she held her close. Her whole body had felt so warm that it was like a small electrical field had formed over her skin. As they had lain side by side, she remembered wishing there were some way she could pull the princess even closer, some way she could let her know what she was feeling. Holding her like that, knowing that she could never truly touch her, had been difficult, but she had been grateful she at least had that.

It was not long before Zelda began to stir. As the princess's eyes fluttered open she looked up at Samus and smiled.

"I thought you said you couldn't sleep anywhere but your ship," Zelda said coyly as she remained nestled in Samus's arms.

Samus could feel the electrical pinpricks returning across her skin as she looked down at her. "How did you know I fell asleep?"

Zelda laughed. "I woke up at one point and saw you were out cold. I told you that you were exhausted."

"You woke up? Was it because I was… screaming again?"

"No. No." Zelda shook her head. There were marks where the wrinkles of the pillow had pressed into her face, and her hair looked softer and slightly messy. "No screaming at all. I guess maybe you don't see me as very much of a threat."

Samus couldn't help smiling at that even though she tried not to show it. She hadn't been expecting it at all.

"There was one thing though," Zelda said as she and Samus slowly started to sit up.

"What?"

The princess smirked as she stretched one arm up in the air and rubbed her eyes. "You were snoring."

"I… what?"

"You were sn—"

"I know what you said." Samus frowned. "I don't snore."

"How would you know? You've said it yourself. You don't sleep around other people. Ever."

"I don't snore."

Zelda laughed and shook her head, the color coming more evenly into her face now as the imprint of the pillow began to fade. Her small golden crown was skewed to one side, and she fixed it before running her fingers through her long hair a few times. "Whatever you say."

Throwing her legs over the side of the bed, Zelda stood up and stretched. Samus stayed where she was a moment longer, feeling the warm spot where her companion had just been and wishing they could linger for a while longer.

 _You've got it bad, Aran,_ she thought to herself as she reluctantly pulled away and stood up as well. _You've got it ridiculously bad for this woman, and you're playing with fire by being so close to her._

"Are you ready to go see what Mario and Luigi have in mind as far as finding Peach goes?" Zelda asked as she smoothed out her dress and slipped her shoes back on. She didn't have to put much effort into looking perfect, and Samus vaguely wondered if she should at least attempt re-tying her ponytail to make it look halfway decent.

The bounty hunter just shrugged. "I don't think they'll really be much help. If we're talking about Space Pirates, I doubt the two of them have any means of fighting them." She activated her power suit once more and was encased in the golden-orange glow until the armor materialized around her body. This time, however, she allowed the green visor to remain transparent enough for Zelda to see her eyes.

She had thought about leaving it opaque so she could continue to conceal her identity and sex from Luigi and Mario, but she doubted they would figure out she was a woman just be seeing her eyes, especially not with how deep the suit's synthesizer made her voice sound. They already thought she was in a relationship with Zelda, and she doubted their minds would jump to thinking that Zelda was one of "those" women.

Samus was about to open the door to their bedroom when she felt Zelda suddenly grab her free hand.

"Samus," Zelda said as the bounty hunter turned to look at her, "all joking around aside, did you sleep all right? Are you feeling any better?"

Looking down at the princess, Samus wasn't sure what to say. She did feel all right. Better than all right. It was the first time she hadn't screamed or thrashed around in her sleep for as long as she could remember. She hadn't had any nightmares, but most important of all, she had woken up to find Zelda laying in her arms, and that was a precious memory she intended to keep burned into her mind even long after the time came for them to part ways. But she didn't know how to express any of those things.

"I'm fine," she said, shaking off Zelda's hand as she turned once more to open the bedroom door.

The princess didn't say anything as she followed Samus into the hallway, but she did seem curious as she looked around at the long hallways and gray stone walls. Samus had thought Zelda looked a little zoned out when they had been walking toward the bedroom earlier, and now the princess looked like she was seeing Peach's Castle for the first time. Samus wasn't sure what the big deal was though. It looked pretty similar to Hyrule Castle. Big. Gray. Made of rocks. Nothing special.

All she was interested in was finding those Mario and Luigi guys again so they could track down this Peach person, get the Wonder, and leave. They'd lost enough time already, and the longer the Wonder stayed on this planet, the more of a target it would become for Ridley and Ganondorf. As anxious as she was to find Ridley again, she wanted to make sure she would indeed be the one doing the finding and not the other way around.

Zelda suddenly shrieked, and Samus flew instinctively into a battle stance, pushing the princess behind her as she crouched and aimed her arm cannon at whatever had startled Zelda. But Samus quickly relaxed her stance when she saw it was nothing but a very small humanoid creature. She recognized its outline from those whose heat signatures she had seen within the houses when they first arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom.

It was a tiny humanoid, dressed simply in a blue vest and what appeared to be white parachute pants. It only came up to about Samus's knee save for the massive growth at the top of its head. Samus wasn't sure what it was, but it was white with red spots and looks like the head of a mushroom.

 _And my mind went straight to "mushroom cloud people",_ she thought to herself with a hint of dry amusement, _completely bypassing the very obvious "mushroom people." I've been in this line of work too long…_

"I-I-I'm very s-s-sorry!" the little mushroom man stammered at he looked up at Samus with round fearful eyes. "D-d-didn't mean to startle anyone!"

Samus just brushed off his concerns with a wave of her hand. "Not a problem. Just a misunderstanding."

She looked over to Zelda, assuming the princess would want to go up to him and do her diplomacy thing, but much to the bounty hunter's surprise, Zelda was still behind her, looking every bit as nervous as she had been whenever Samus had originally pushed her aside. When it became obvious that neither the princess nor the mushroom was going to make the next move, Samus sighed and realized it was up to her.

"Why are you here?" she demanded of the mushroom person, and he flinched at her harsh tone.

"I was s-sent to bring you both to the dinging hall… Mario and Luigi are in there planning on how to bring home her Highness, Princess Peach."

Half expecting her to have calmed down by now, Samus looked back over to Zelda, but the princess still looked nervous as she stared at the tiny mushroom man. Samus rolled her eyes behind her visor, remembering how well Zelda had held it together when they had encountered Space Pirates back on the jungle planet, not to mention Ridley and Ganondorf themselves back in the Temple of Time. It seemed ridiculous that she would be afraid of such a harmless looking little guy.

Reluctantly, Samus gestured toward the small humanoid. "Lead the way."

He just nodded nervously but didn't look back before taking off in the direction that Samus presumed would lead them to the dining hall. The trio walked through the stone halls wordlessly, Samus's metal boots echoing with each step as Zelda followed trepidatiously behind her. At one point, Samus felt the princess reach out and grab her hand, and the hunter just gave it a squeeze and held it securely. She didn't know how much of her intent she was able to get across with that simple gesture, but she wanted to let Zelda know that her promise to protect her also extended to small harmless things that might seem a bit spooky to someone who had never left their own planet before. As ridiculous as it was, the hunter found it strangely endearing.

Eventually, they came to a grand stone entryway, and the mushroom man paused as he gestured into what appeared to be a massive dining hall. One long table ran its length, and the room itself must have been at least twenty meters long. Multiple chandeliers levitated over the massive stone table, and though Samus wasn't sure, she thought it looked like the table was actually attached to the similar-looking stone ground. It was as though this whole great hall had once been made of a single block of stone, and all of the negative space had been hewn into it by at least a thousand masons over the course of centuries, all the way from the endless table and up to the cathedral ceilings that seemed to all be connected to the same massive stone. Samus had been to a lot of ancient planets, but she had never seen anything like this in her life.

Even Zelda looked awestruck as she broke her focus on the humanoid and turned to stare up at the ceiling with Samus. Somehow, whoever had carved out this room had also managed to carve out space for the row of stained glass windows that lined the far wall. Light of every color streamed into the otherwise gray room, bringing it to life as it cast rainbows upon every surface.

"It's beautiful," Zelda breathed, only half conscious of her words.

Samus didn't know what to say to that, but she closed her eyes for a moment behind her visor, savoring the feel of the princess's hand excitedly squeezing her as she visualized the way the colorful light danced across Zelda's fair, delicate features. It was another one of those memories she wanted to burn deep into her mind.

"PIKA PIKA!"

As Samus opened her eyes, she had just enough time to lift her cannon arm up and catch the bright yellow blur that ran at her from somewhere inside the dining hall.

"Pikachuuuuu," the Pokémon squeaked as he nuzzled his face deep into Samus's chest armor. His delight upon seeing her was infectious, and Samus could not help but smile.

"Hey there, little guy," she said, holding him close to her with her cannon arm as Zelda still held her actual hand. "What are you doing off the ship? I thought you were going to keep watch over it while we were away?"

"Pi-i-ka…" he whined as his ears dropped in annoyance. He made a face like he had just sucked on a lemon.

Samus sighed. "I know it can be a little boring on there alone, but you really should have—"

Pikachu tapped the side of her helmet, making full eye contact through her visor. "Pi-ka-chu. Pika-pi…"

Samus didn't say anything for a moment, but eventually she nodded. "I suppose we were gone a long time without sending back any intel. But we're fine, and I'll be more cognizant of that next time. And you should know better than to chase after me if you think I'm in danger. If something is big and bad enough to take me down, that's your cue to run like hell."

"You gotta all that outta just a few ways of a-saying 'Pikachu?'"

Samus looked over to see Mario talking to her from over on the far left side of the massive table. Luigi was next to him, looking slightly embarrassed by his brother's intrusion on Samus and Pikachu's exchange.

The bounty hunter shrugged, still holding Pikachu close to her chest as she and Zelda walked down to join the two brothers at the table. "It really doesn't have anything to do with the words he's saying. It's just how he says it and what he means."

"Samus can talk to animals," Zelda said, taking a seat as Pikachu leapt out of Samus's arms and onto the table between them. Both brothers looked up at the bounty hunter.

"I can't talk to animals," Samus said flatly, not sure where Zelda had gotten that idea. "I've just been around enough different kinds of creatures in my life to know which emotions are pretty universal. Other species aren't hard to figure out if you just pay attention to them."

Mario raised one of his bushy eyebrows and looked at Samus skeptically. "Somehow this is notta what I was expecting from Samus Aran…"

Samus didn't move or say anything. No one really ever knew what to expect from her, especially since most people assumed she was either a man or a robot.

When he realized she was wasn't going to respond, Mario gestured again for Samus to sit, but again, she ignored the request. She knew it might seem a bit odd to be the only one standing, but her armor wasn't exactly built for normal human chairs.

"Anyway," Mario continued, finally giving up on interacting with Samus, "we've still gotta the problem of Princess Peach. She was kidnapped by Bowser and the Space-a Pirates a few days ago, and I don'ta know how to find her. She wasn't in the castle where I usually finda her whenever she gets kidnapped."

"Usually?" Samus still couldn't wrap her head around the idea how anyone could be a functional monarch if they spent such a considerable amount of time being held hostage that it became routine. "She isn't where she _usually_ is all the other times she gets kidnapped?"

"That'sa what I said," Mario replied, not seeming to pick up on the sarcasm dripping from Samus's tone. "We needa way to locate her."

"Samus is excellent at finding people, aren't you?" Zelda said, looking over her shoulder and smiling at the bounty hunter. "She's got an amazing collection of weapons and tools for all sorts of jobs."

"What do you have inna mind for this-a job—" Mario paused, his big blue eyes getting wide as he looked over to Samus. "She? _Samus é una donna?_ "

"Eh?" Luigi looked intrigued as he looked over to Samus and Zelda. "Zelda… you and Samus are… _come si dice… lesbiche?"_

"I… I beg your pardon?" Zelda said, staring blankly at Mario and Luigi.

"Lesbians." Samus's voice was gruff as she looked around the room. "They just realized I'm a woman and they're asking if we're lesbians."

" _Parli Italiano?"_ Mario asked, looking curiously at Samus.

The bounty hunter just shook her head. "Like I said before, it's not what people or creatures say, it's the way they say it and the context. And no, I can assure you that Princess Zelda of Hyrule is very thoroughly not a lesbian. We were just posing as a couple because you assumed I was a man and I didn't want us to be assigned to separate bedrooms. Protecting her is just part of my mission."

Zelda looked over her shoulder at Samus, and her face looked slightly red. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but no words escaped her mouth, and Samus could only guess what she had been trying to say.

"Regardless of my sex," Samus said before any more lesbian talk could come up, "we have a mission to complete. In the hologram we saw of Peach, she was carrying a red sphere that was obviously one of the Seven Wonders. I've got a theory that all of the Wonders are somehow connected, and perhaps we can use the ones we already have to help us locate where this new one is."

"And what makes-a you think that she still has the orb?" Luigi asked.

The bounty hunter shrugged. "What else to be have to go on? You know, since this isn't one of her routine Tuesday-afternoon kidnappings?"

"That'sa good point," Luigi concurred, and Samus wondered if she should be more concerned about the state of this planet's governing body.

"So which-a of the Wonders are we going to use?" Mario asked. "You have-a them with you?"

"No." Samus looked down at Pikachu, and the Pokémon gave a nervous smile as he absently touched the back of his head. "That one was supposed to be in charge of guarding them, but he apparently got bored and wandered off."

"Pika-pika," the small rodent grumbled, but he knew better than to look up and make eye contact with Samus.

"This one, however," Samus said, placing her hand on Zelda's shoulder, "commands some kind of ancient energy manipulation power, and through it, she is somehow tied to the fate of the Wonders."

Zelda looked up at Samus questioningly, and Samus could tell the princess had taken note of the fact that the bounty hunter had conveniently left out the fact where they believed Zelda might actually be part of one of the Wonders.

"She can communicate," Samus continued, "over great distances through the power of her magic triangle, and she can look into people's very minds. I have no doubt that she can reach out with that same force and scan this world for Peach and the Wonder."

"Samus," Zelda said, turning around in her seat and looking up at the bounty hunter, her face flushed with a mixture of surprise and annoyance. "You know I've never done anything like that before!"

The bounty hunter looked down at her. "Perhaps you've never done this specifically, but I think you can. I think this is easily within the scope of your power. If my suit can scan an area for biosigns, you can scan this world for something with that distinct of an energy signature. You looked and saw into my mind… images from decades ago. I don't know of any other technology in the universe that can do something like that."

For a moment, Zelda just stared at Samus, letting the words settle as she processed them. It might not have been the most logical argument, but Samus was certain that the princess possessed this power. Somehow, she could just feel it.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to give it a try," Zelda said, slowly standing up and turning to face her whole body toward Samus. "But if I do, it's going to require a ridiculous amount of concentration."

Samus just nodded. "And while you're in that state, I'll make sure no harm comes to you."

Zelda smiled nervously, trying to brush off Samus's comment with a light laugh. "You'll protect me from these guys, Pikachu, and the little mushroom people?"

"With my life," Samus replied, her voice grave as her eyes locked with Zelda's through the visor.

The princess's face began to turn red again, and Samus wondered why such a simple statement of her duty as a bodyguard would have such an effect on her. Someone like Zelda had grown up surrounded by guards her whole life, so it should hardly embarrass her to think someone was willing to take a bullet for her.

And then a strange thought hit Samus, one she had forbidden herself to ever consider, and she shoved it to the back of her mind as quickly as it had come. She had known better than to get attached, but she had done that anyway. The last thing she needed was to delude herself into thinking Zelda shared any of those feelings.

But even as she steeled herself against the intrusive thoughts, nothing could have prepared her for the sudden impact of Zelda stepping right into her arms and pressing herself up against Samus's chest.

"Hold me," the princess said as she closed her eyes and guided Samus's hand to wrap around her waste and support her. "I'm going to try 'searching' for Peach and the Wonder."

Samus wasn't prepared for the sudden warm sensation that suddenly spread through her body, originating from where Zelda stood in her arms. She could feel the princess's magical energy suddenly pulsing through her, and she tightened her grip as Zelda fell more heavily into her. Samus wasn't sure what was happening in Zelda's mind or where she was now, but something told her the princess had succeeded in "seeing" the rest of the world and was now actively searching out the wonder.

Samus could feel her heartbeat quicken in time with Zelda's as the throes of whatever energy they were enveloped in intensified. She could feel Zelda's breathing grow heavier, somehow falling in sync with her own as the mystical force rushed through them. The bounty hunter didn't know what was happening, but it was like something was consuming her or perhaps consuming the world around her. She felt a sudden jerk as her vision began to grow fuzzy. The last thing she noticed was Pikachu freaking out and jumping toward them, landing on Zelda's shoulder at the very last moment before the room they were in disappeared.

For a long time, there was nothing around them but green light, and Samus wasn't sure if she was still standing on the ground as the familiar feeling of weightlessness took over and she clutched Zelda ever tighter against her body. She could see Pikachu clinging to the princess as well, but she couldn't hear him. She couldn't hear anything, and she couldn't feel anything anymore aside from Zelda holding her.

Eventually, however, the rushing energy began to let up, and the world started reappearing around them as Samus felt solid ground under her feet once more.

"Chuuuu…" Pikachu whined as he collapsed on Zelda's shoulder, swaying slightly and looking dizzy.

As soon as she had her own bearings, Samus looked around to find that while they were in a similar stone gray castle, they were no longer in the great dining hall of the Mushroom Kingdom. Wherever they had teleported to was dark, dank, and windowless. Samus felt a chill run up her spine as Zelda collapsed suddenly in her arms. Not missing a second, the bounty hunter scooped her up and held her bridal style.

"Zelda?" she called quietly, and the princess slowly opened her eyes. She looked very pale and drained as she stared up at Samus.

"I… think I found the Wonder," Zelda said, her voice faint as she lifted up her hand and pointed behind Samus.

The bounty hunter turned around to discover what appeared to be a prison cell. Heavy wrought iron bars ran from below the floor and up through the stone ceiling with several more rows running horizontally. Within the cell, huddled against the far back wall was a small blonde woman. She looked fearfully up at Samus and the barely conscious Zelda in her arms.

Samus recognized her immediately as the princess from the hologram message, but the bounty hunter's eyes quickly darted to the prison cell's other occupant. Although, Samus thought, it might better be described as the cell's former occupant. Beside Peach lay the torn up and slaughtered body of some kind of massive dinosaur creature. Its heavily spiked shell was broken in several places. The horned head and fiery red hair were caked with dried blood, and from the looks of things, Samus was pretty sure the beast had been dead for a day or two already.

"R-run!" the blonde woman called out suddenly. "Before they find you here! It's a trap!"

But Samus didn't have time to respond before the whole building began to rumble. She held Zelda tight, ready to shield her from any falling debris, but rather than collapse around them like she had thought the structure would, the walls, ceiling, and floor all began to glow with an eerie deep purple. Shifting Zelda's weight to one arm, Samus raised her cannon, searching for any possible targets as her heart rate shot up and her body entered fight mode.

It was like watching a movie as the walls suddenly all burst into black and violet flames as they dissolved around them. Thunder clapped in the distance as rain began to fall, and Samus realized they were suddenly standing in some kind of dark field as Peach's cell transformed into a cage and levitated high off of the ground.

As lightning flashed through the sky, it illuminated everything, and Samus could see that they weren't alone on this field. They were surrounded on all sides by Space Pirates, some areas at least dozens of troops thick as hundreds of ravenous golden eyes settled upon the hunter and the elfish woman in her arm.

But none of that seemed to faze Samus. Her eyes and cannon were locked on one very specific target that towered above the rest of the creatures around him. Since they had seen him in Hyrule, Ridley seemed to have tripled in size, and his normal golden-red eyes now had a deep blackness behind them. His whole body glowed with the same dark purple energy that had enveloped with walls when the fake room fell away.

And levitating behind the massive glowing Ridley was none other than the dark wizard himself, hands raised and ready as though he would be the one commanding the legions of Space Pirates that surrounded them.

Her heart racing but her stance firm, Samus pivoted to put as much of her own body as she could between Zelda and their arch foes. As she raised her arm cannon and pointed it between the glowing Ridley's eyes, the mercenary steeled herself for an all-out war.


	16. Ch 16: Electrify

**Author's Note:** Hey, look! I managed to update in less than a week! Hooray!

So, this chapter is a wee bit on the intense side. Heh. Like I said, I normally write Sci-Fi horror, so anyone who has read my "Human" series should feel right at home.

Once again thank you thank you thank you to everyone leaving feedback for me! I'm really happy and surprised to see so many people are enjoying my silly little attempt at a love story. Thank you. You all rock and I hope you enjoy Chapter 16!

 **Chapter 16: Electrify**

Rain beat down furiously on Zelda's face as the wind ripped through her hair. A flash of lightning illuminated their surroundings and their situation. The outline of Ridley towered over them as she sunk into Samus's arms, the dizzy Pikachu held close to her chest. Behind the massive dragon, however, was an even more terrifying sight. As Ganondorf raised his arms, he made eye contact with her and smirked. The dark lord looked like he was somehow commanding the hundreds of Space Pirate troops that surrounded them.

Zelda wasn't sure what to do, but she was readying herself to transform into Sheik when something happened that nearly made her heart stop. Shifting the princess's weight entirely to her left side, Samus raised her arm cannon and pivoted to put as much of herself between Ganondorf and Zelda as humanly possible.

"Samus," Zelda called, but her voice was drowned out by the falling rain and the furious wind. She reached one hand forward and touched the side of the bounty hunter's helmet, this time putting more effort into her voice. "Samus!"

But Samus didn't say anything as she stood with her cannon trained on the massive Ridley. Even Pikachu was worried as his ears and fur stood straight up.

"I won't let anyone hurt you," came the sound of the synthesized voice, traveling surprisingly well even through the storm.

Zelda's hand recoiled from Samus when she realized the hunter wasn't going to move. Even now, surrounded by enemies on all sides and staring down their two most powerful foes, Samus was using her own body as a shield, ready to protect her and Pikachu down to the very last second. As lightning flashed again and illuminated the slick metal of the hunter's armor, Zelda realized Samus wasn't expecting to make it out of this battle alive, but she wasn't about to go down without putting up one hell of a fight.

For a moment, Zelda wondered why no one was making a move, but in the blink of an eye, the front of Samus's cannon opened up and shot forward a massive explosive blast straight at the giant Ridley. Without delay, Samus leapt into the air, putting as much distance as possible between them and the volley of rifle fire coming from the hordes of Space Pirates below. Zelda gasped as Ridley stretched his wings and bellowed out a fearsome roar. His golden-red eyes looked dead and hollow as he turned them toward her, and Samus released a series of three more explosive blasts straight toward his face.

That was when all hell broke loose. Shrugging off Samus's shots like they were nothing, Ridley thrust himself into the air toward them, his mouth beginning to glow as he readied his own fire. As the rain came down from above, gunfire rained up from below, mostly missing its mark but occasionally clipping Samus as they began to fall back to the ground.

Zelda was about to summon Nayru's Love to create a shield around herself and the bounty hunter, but before she could, she felt them all thrust forward. Samus had somehow tucked into a mid-air somersault and propelled them forward and upward. A strange layer of electricity surrounded Samus as she repeated the somersault over and over through the air. Zelda clung tight to both Samus and Pikachu as she thought she was going to be sick. Flipping through the air like this was making it impossible to cast her spell, and she could tell Samus was taking damage every time she saw a flash and felt them jerk awkwardly in the air. She could feel the searing heat of Ridley's fire blast, but thankfully it missed them. Even though she was defying gravity in the most uncomfortable manner possible, Samus seemed to have some knowledge of where exactly she was jump flipping, which was more than Zelda could say about herself.

The only problem was that while the lightning flips were protecting Zelda and Pikachu from damage, Samus wasn't getting offensive strikes in on their enemies, and there was no way she was going to be able to hold out like this forever. At the very least, Zelda and Pikachu were close to their breaking points with the constant inversions.

"Samus!" Zelda tried calling to the hunter again, having to pause for a moment as they went upside down and she could feel the vomit rising up into her mouth. "We can't take this! If we land, I can use my magic to create a shield!"

But the bounty hunter ignored her as she suddenly dove down toward the ground. Zelda could feel her stomach coming up to her throat as Samus dive-bombed straight into a patch of Space Pirates, using her electrical attack like a buzz saw as she cut a swath through their ranks.

Zelda screamed as green Pirate blood spattered her and she felt a couple of rifle shots skim by her skin. Samus tightened up her somersault formation as they flew into the air again, but much to Zelda's surprise, she immediately dive-bombed the group of Pirates again, rising up and swinging back down until she had carved out an open area on the ground covered with Pirate corpses. Only then did the bounty hunter land firmly on her feet and begin firing in rapid succession at everything around them.

Hanging limply over Samus's arm, Zelda turned her head to the side and threw up all over the blood soaked ground. Her world was spinning and dark, only lit up by the rapid bursts of muzzle flash from all combatants. This was better than being in the air, but it still wasn't working. Every time Samus took a hit, the hunter's body jerked violently, and Zelda thought she might be sick again. And as more and more Pirates were converging on them, Samus was starting to take hits much more frequently.

"Samus!" Zelda yelled one more time, struggling to free herself from the bounty hunter's grip. "Put me down! I can use my magic! Let me help you!"

"No!" Samus's synthetic voice shouted back as she shot missile after missile into the never-ending onslaught of Pirates rushing them. "I won't let you get hurt! It's my job to protect you!"

Zelda tried to answer, but Samus gasped and staggered back as a particularly heavy blast struck her dead in her side. For a second, Zelda thought they were going to collapse, but Samus stayed her course, withstanding two more blasts as she let out a spray of some fiery beam weapon. While it didn't have quite the punch of her missiles, Zelda noticed the beam incinerated whatever parts of the Pirates it came into contact with.

As Samus continued to shoot and actually began advancing toward their falling ranks, Zelda looked out in the distance to see both Ridley and Ganondorf just watching the fight, biding their time as their expendable foot soldiers wore Samus down. The princess could see through their strategy, and it infuriated her. Once again, she struggled to free herself from Samus's grip so she could use her magic or transform into Sheik or do literally anything to help instead of just being dead weight holding Samus back.

In spite of Samus's stubborn refusal to let her help, however, Zelda could see the Space Pirate pack had thinned out quite a bit. Their bodies lay strewn on the ground in smoking heaps, and Samus was actually driving them back. Unfortunately, even as she was advancing, Samus was taking hit after hit, and Zelda wondered if it was because was she trying not to hurt her and Pikachu anymore with the aggressive sudden movements.

She might not have been able to break away and transform into Sheik, but now Samus was holding her steady enough that Zelda could focus on her magic, and as a well placed shot caused Samus to gasp and fall to one knee, the princess knew she didn't have a moment to spare. Though she was still exhausted from teleporting them all the way here, she managed to summon up the energy to cast Nayru's Love and form a shield around the three of them.

Samus paused for a minute as she saw the bright blue barrier forming around them and watched the Space Pirates' attacks bounce off of it. Her armor was badly scorched in places, and she was breathing heavily as she slowly got back on her feet. Zelda realized the hunter was moving gingerly and keeping her cannon closer to the side of her abdomen where she had taken the bad hit earlier, and suddenly the princess found herself wondering if she and Pikachu weren't actually the reason Samus had stopped flipping around and dodging.

But if the bounty hunter actually had been injured, one would never know it by the sudden explosive barrage she sent into the line of Space Pirates closing back in. Zelda's eyes grew wide as she watched Samus's firepower tear through the remaining Space Pirates, blasting huge explosions in their legions that threw them to the ground and then following up with more of the fiery incineration beam.

As shocked as she was by Samus's sudden increase in aggression, Zelda was thankful for it because she was not sure how much longer she could hold the magic shields up. They had already taken quiet a beating from the Pirates' attacks, and she could feel hot sweat running down her face even as it was battered with the cold rain. When at last the blue energy of the shields began to fade out, Samus was already picking off the last of the Pirate horde, burning the final few until there was no one left standing aside from her, Ganondorf, and Ridley.

And Samus didn't hesitate for a second before turning her cannon away from the remains of the last Pirate to the massive Space Dragon before her. The way the dragon just stared at them with his dead eyes sent a chill up Zelda's spine. She could sense him radiating the same evil energy as Ganondorf behind him.

"Samus," she said, hoping the bounty hunter would actually listen to her for once, and to her surprise, Samus finally set the princess down on the ground.

"Run," the bounty hunter said ominously. "Take Pikachu and use your powers to teleport out of here."

Zelda looked like Samus had just smacked her. She was drenched with the pounding rain and her gown was heavy as she held Pikachu and stared up at Samus in disbelief.

"I'm not leaving you!" the princess yelled over the wind, stepping forward and taking hold of Samus's left arm. "We're a team! You protected me!"

"And now I'm continuing to do so," Samus said, pushing the princess off her arm and bringing it up to her cannon. "Get out of here, Zelda. You're too important to be killed here."

"Samus!" she screamed, lunging forward and grabbing the bounty hunter's wrist. "I'm not leaving you! I can't do that!"

Samus didn't say anything, and as Zelda looked up, she realized that Ganondorf was looking straight at her and laughing.

"That's golden," the dark lord's voice bellowed, easily dominating the roar of the wind. "Zelda, wielder of the Triforce of Wisdom, somehow decides it's worth dying simply to avoid abandoning that empty, armored vessel."

"Go back to Hell, Ganon!" she yelled back, surprising herself as she took a step forward. "Samus is far from some empty vessel! You have no idea how powerful she is!"

"You speak to me of power?" he asked, his tone growing gradually more amused as the giant Ridley spread his wings again and flashed his vacant eyes. "While I'll admit you've certainly aligned yourself with a formidable warrior, you lack any agency over it, instead opting to let it carry you around like a doll."

Ridley arched his back and roared, the dark purple energy emanating off of him. Zelda wondered what exactly Ganon had done to the dragon and if he was implying she should have somehow done the same to Samus.

"You truly know nothing," the wizard said as he stared down at them. "You took the bait I planted and teleported you both here before you even realized what was happening. Did you really think Princess Kidnap and her pet Koopa could keep the Wonder of Fire from me? How foolish."

Zelda froze and felt like a rock was sinking into her stomach. Ganon had known she would try using her magic to search for the Wonder, and that would be the perfect way to lure her to him and the augmented Ridley. She wondered if he had counted on her bringing Samus along, but he didn't even seem phased by the hunter's presence. It was as though he simply didn't care.

She looked up at the cage in which Peach was suspended with the rotting corpse of what was presumably Bowser. With every thing that had happened since they had been ambushed, she had almost forgotten about the kidnapped princess. Zelda was tired. The teleportation had been draining enough on its own, likely something Ganon had counted on, but holding up the Nayru's Love shield had been brutal. She didn't understand how Samus could take hits like that up close and personal.

She looked back over to the hunter once more. Samus's cannon was still pointed at Ridley. The two long-time foes were staring each other down. Zelda remembered how Samus had overpowered the dragon twice back in Hyrule, but she also remembered how he had managed to breach her armor. And this new and improved Ridley was easily three times the size he was when Samus had fought him last. Zelda didn't know the full extent of Samus's power, but she was certain the beating she had just taken from the Space Pirate legion was not going to put her at any kind of advantage. Then again, she had just watched Samus slaughter an entire Space Pirate legion so there was no telling what she was capable of.

"Run," the mercenary repeated, not even looking back at Zelda and Pikachu. "I'm not going to say it again. There's no way this is going to end well."

"It would serve you best," Ganondorf said with a cocky snicker, "to listen to that one. Although, it's not like I'm going to complain if you decide to stay. It will just save me the effort of hunting you down later."

Zelda just glared up at Ganondorf. There was nothing she could do right now that would catch him off guard, especially not with how drained she was feeling at the moment. Samus was staring down Ridley, and either one of them could attack without a moment's notice. The princess really didn't see a way out of this situation.

"I'll do it," she said, placing a hand on the mercenary's upper arm. "I'll take Pikachu and get us out of here, but I'm counting on you to come back to us in one piece!"

Samus nodded ever so slightly, her gaze never leaving Ridley. "Go."

Taking a deep breath, Zelda took a step back from the bounty hunter. Pikachu protested and flailed, but she held him tight as she summoned Farore's Wind. Within a few seconds, she was surrounded by the glowing green magic, and soon after, she and Pikachu disappeared entirely from sight, leaving Samus alone in her standoff between her arch nemesis and the dark lord himself.

When Zelda reappeared in her new location, the first thing she did was put her hand over Pikachu's mouth and have them both lay very low on the floor. The could hear the sounds of explosions and a dragon screeching below them, and Zelda took a second to close her eyes and pray to the goddesses that Samus was all right. When at last she opened her eyes again, she found herself face to face with the young blonde woman from the hologram.

"What are you—" Peach began but Zelda held up a hand for her to be silent.

"I told Samus I would teleport out of the battle. I didn't tell her where I was going." Zelda looked around at the wrought iron bars of the cage, the frightened Peach, and the remains of Bowser as another bolt of lightning lit up the sky.

"Are you trapped in here now too?" Peach asked, clearly exhausted and disoriented from what Zelda assumed was days trapped in a cage beside a dead body and without any food. "Or are you rescuing me?"

Zelda smirked. "The second one." But her expression quickly sobered up as she heard Samus shriek in the distance.

Holding her breath, Zelda crawled over to the edge of the cage and cautiously peeked out through it. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw Samus lying on the ground with Ridley advancing on her, and it took all of the Princess's will power not to scream. Fortunately, the bounty hunter quickly hopped up to her feet once more and sent a round of missiles straight toward Ridley's face.

Zelda breathed a sigh of relief as they all hit their mark, but that relief was short lived. Somehow, the missiles had not had any effect on Ridley at all. Zelda looked over and saw Ganondorf watching the battle. There was no doubt in the princess's mind that he was directly responsible for the Space Dragon's sudden growth.

"He's using his magic as a shield around Ridley," Zelda muttered to Peach and Pikachu, both of whom had joined her in watching the battle at this point. "Samus can't put a dent in him right now, not as long as Ganon is there casting whatever spell that is on him."

"So what are you saying?" Peach asked. "There's no way to kill the dragon?"

Zelda shook her head. "I don't know, but I think that if I can disable Ganondorf somehow, Samus will be able to make much easier work of Ridley." She then looked over to the other princess and once again noted her miserable condition. Filthy and half starved, she looked downright pathetic as her matted hair stuck to her face. "I understand if you want me to just get you out of here so you can escape though."

Peach looked over at Zelda, and somehow, despite her exhaustion, her blue eyes flashed mischievously. "Not a chance. I've got the Mushroom Kingdom to defend, and if there's a chance to beat these guys and protect it, I'm not about to just run back with my tail between my legs.

Zelda smiled for the first time since they had teleported here. If Peach could keep her spirits up despite everything she had endured, then she could too.

"Besides," the blonde princess said with a coy grin, "it's not like I've never been kidnapped before. I've been around this block a few times."

"I'm not going to ask." Zelda laughed nervously. "But I'm sure it'll make a great story later."

"Pika-pi-chu!" Pikachu pointed excitedly to where Samus was fighting Ridley over in the distance. She seemed like she might be gaining the upper hand despite her opponent's size.

"Maybe he's not invincible," Zelda whispered hopefully to herself as she stared transfixed at the fight.

Samus had a few more visible scrapes on her armor, but it didn't seem to be slowing her down as she jumped to dodge yet another one of Ridley's flame attacks. Barely giving her time to land on her feet, however, the massive dragon swooped down, ready to capture Samus in his clutches. But the bounty hunter was nimble and barely touched the ground before she thrust herself into the air again, using her momentum to dodge to the side and shoot some kind of bluish grapple beam around Ridley's neck as he dove past her.

As the dragon beat his wings and flew up into the air once more, Samus used the grapple beam around his neck to pull herself up and land where the base of his neck met his back. Zelda held her breath as the dragon flailed like mad trying to throw her off, but the bounty hunter stood her ground, clinging tight to Ridley's throat.

Seizing the first opportunity, Samus released her grapple and flipped into the air, landing on the dragons face with a fully charged shot in her cannon. Before he could react, she jammed the muzzle square between his eyes and pulled the trigger. As the explosion erupted, Samus leapt once more into the air away from the cloud of fire and smoke that obscured Ridley's head.

She was coming down, cannon first, at an attempt at a finishing shot when the battle took a sudden turn. Ridley shot up out of the smoke, jaws first, catching Samus's cannon arm in his mouth. Even as the bounty hunter pulled the trigger and fired off the shot into his throat, Ridley remained unfazed. Instead of screaming, he crunched down harder on the armor.

Samus pressed her feet up to his bottom jaw in an attempt to push him off and free her arm, but it was too late. Like a dog snapping a rodent's neck, Ridley jerked his head violently, and there was a sound even Zelda could hear from as far as she was. Samus's scream echoed through the thunderous downpour but eventually faded into a weak cry as the dragon continued to shake her trapped body, throwing her up in the air and catching her in his jaws again like she was a plaything. Her cannon arm dangled uselessly at her side, and as limp as her body was, Zelda wasn't sure if the mercenary was even still conscious.

There was one thing she did know, however, and it was that she was done hiding and waiting for an opportunity. Standing up suddenly, she managed to complete the transformation into Sheik before she was even fully on her feet. Her sights were set on one thing and one thing only. Ganondorf.

Summoning Din's Fire in each hand, she melted and bent back the metal bars of the cage. She was seeing red now, painfully aware of the beating Samus was still taking from Ridley.

"Get out of here," she muttered to Peach and Pikachu, and one glance at them told her they didn't need to be told twice. They looked downright terrified of her sudden shift in demeanor.

Peach just nodded as she scooped up Pikachu in her arms and picked up some kind of dirty old parasol from over on the ground. The Pokémon panicked for a second as she jumped out of the cage still holding him, but he calmed down when he realized she was somehow using the parasol to float down to the ground gently.

Sheik didn't care though. There was only one thing on her mind. As she summoned Din's Fire in each hand once more, she jumped into the air and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

All of her rage rushed into her palms as she reappeared just above where Ganondorf hovered, slamming down her full weight onto his back and blasting him with Din's Fire in the process.

The dark lord gasped, caught off guard by the surprise attack, but before he could do anything, Sheik had her chain around his neck and was using all of her strength to strangle him. For a moment, she thought she had the upper hand, but the wizard seemed almost amused at her attempts to kill him.

With a simple wave of his palm, Sheik felt his dark magic envelope her. Against her will, she dropped the chain and began to float in the air, suspended by some invisible hand gripping her throat. She flailed as he used his dark magic to choke her, but he didn't bother finishing her like that. Instead, he somehow used his own power to undo her disguise and change her back into the Princess Zelda. Then he just smiled wickedly and looked even more amused as he released his grasp on her and let her drop like a rock to the ground.

Zelda's vision was already fuzzy as she fell, but she at least had the wherewithal to cast a weak Nayru's Love spell around herself just before she hit the ground. The fall was still painful, but at least she was still conscious. And as long as she was still conscious, she refused to stay down.

Getting to her feet, Zelda cast Din's fire back up at Ganondorf, but it faded out as he countered with his own dark flames. She was exhausted and her legs were trembling, but she wasn't backing down. It was clear none of her projectile spells were going to work, and there was no other way for her to reach him from down here. The only hope she had was a counter-spell.

As he seemed to charge dark energy around his fists, Zelda knew he was preparing for the killing blow, but she was ready for him. As soon as he was ready and released the dark magic bolts, she would cast Nayru's Love and reflect them back up at him. There would be no way he'd have time to summon enough energy to counter them before they struck, and that might just be powerful enough to knock him down a few pegs or at least break his hold over Ridley.

Zelda was ready, and as she saw the dark bolts release from his fists, heading straight at her, she prepared to cast Nayru's Love to deflect it. But then something happened that she wasn't counting on.

"No!" Zelda shouted, her eyes wide with terror as she saw Samus lunging toward her. She didn't have time to say anything before the bounty hunter threw herself between Zelda and Ganondorf, taking the princess in her one functional arm and using her own body as a shield.

Zelda was paralyzed with horror and felt her heart tear in two as she heard the bounty hunter's scream of agony as the dark magic struck her directly in the back. Samus crumbled and collapsed into Zelda's arms. She was so heavy, she dragged the princess down with her as they both fell to the ground. Zelda kept her arms wrapped around the bounty hunter's neck the best she could as the limp armored form lay with her head in Zelda's lap. The princess could seeing the deep black burns in her armor where the attack had struck her, and all she could do was stare wide-eyed at Samus's wounds. It was like her entire mind had gone blank, and despite everything else going on, all she could see and feel was Samus lying broken in her arms.

Only once Ganondorf laughed did Zelda look up to see both the dark lord and the monstrous dragon staring down from above her.

"Did you really think you could win?" Ganondorf asked with a smug grin. "You're so weak it's pathetic. Why would you ever think you could save Hyrule or any other world for that matter? You're nothing but the fragile little doll heroes like Link try to rescue. He should have been the one to go on this quest while you stayed up in your comfortable little castle, waited on hand and foot by those lapdogs who don't know any better. But instead you came here and got that other warrior killed with your incompetence."

Zelda couldn't see anything as she stared up at Ganondorf. She could only feel the cold rain beating her face, washing away any tears she may have cried. She didn't know what to do, and she couldn't move.

"PIKA!" a voice shouted suddenly as a flash lit up the battlefield. Zelda looked up just in time to see a bolt of lightning strike a very angry looking Pikachu as he charged toward Ganondorf and Ridley. "PI-KA-CHUUUUU!"

The Pokémon screamed as the bolt of lightning exploded out from his body, huge blasts striking Ganondorf and Ridley. Other rays of electricity exploded out and blasted the ground, kicking up a massive smoke screen between Zelda and their foes.

Suddenly Zelda felt someone take her by the hand as she looked over her shoulder to see Peach.

"We've got to go," the blonde princess said gently, and within a few seconds, Pikachu had joined them once more, hopping onto Samus's battered form and holding tight. "We don't have much time."

Zelda just stared at Peach for a moment, lost in her daze as the scene around her played out like she was simply watching and not actually a part of it. But she snapped out of her stupor after a moment and was able to process what Peach had said.

Nodding once, Zelda grasped Peach's hand and held tight to Samus as she closed her eyes. The swirling green wind appeared around them once more, enveloping the small group before they were nothing more than a flash of light and eventually disappeared from sight completely.

Zelda wasn't sure how much time had elapsed before she opened her eyes to find herself lying on her back on the stone floor of the great dining hall of Peach's Castle. She was exhausted and hurt all over, but despite all that, there was only one thing on her mind. As she forced herself up, she turned to see Samus lying beside her. The armored suit was dark and powerless as all of its usual green lights seemed to have burned out.

Saying a prayer to the goddesses, Zelda pulled herself over to where Samus lay. She couldn't see if the hunter's chest was moving at all since the armor was completely motionless. Instead, she reached for Samus's helmet. With all her strength and just a bit of magic, she was able to pull it off and toss it to the side. She reached a trembling hand just over Samus's mouth, and to her relief, she could feel the slight movement of air from the hunter's breath.

"Samus," she whispered, feeling like she wanted to collapse, but she couldn't do that. Not just yet.

Summoning the last of her magic, Zelda pulled off her wet gloves and gently laid both hands on the bounty hunter's face. She could feel warmth run through her as her skin made contact with Samus's. Closing her eyes once more, Zelda cast a healing spell. It wasn't as effective as it could have been if she could actually reach the parts of Samus that were wounded, but it would do for now. It had to.

Little by little, she could feel the warmth running out of her own body through the palms of her hands and into Samus. Exhausted though she was, she kept it up, summoning every last ounce of magic she could muster into healing Samus before it was too late. It wasn't nearly enough, but it would have to do because as Zelda hit her breaking point, her hands fell from Samus's face and she collapsed onto Samus's chest.


	17. Ch 17: If Anyone Falls

**Author's Note:** Well, that last chapter was pretty intense. lol. This one is definitely a change of pace from that. Thanks again to everyone who took the time to review :) I appreciate it. Enjoy chapter 17.

 **Chapter 17: If Anyone Falls**

Samus had taken her share of hits in all of her battles over the years, so waking up in pain was far from a new experience for her. Before she was even fully conscious, she could feel that something was very wrong with her body, and as she gradually came around, she tried to assess the worst of it.

Stabbing, burning pain filled her back. The bounty hunter had an extremely high pain tolerance, but there was something deep and particularly painful about whatever these wounds were. It concerned her, but she wasn't truly frightened until she realized she couldn't move her right arm without sharp pains running through her shoulder, down her arm, and even across her upper back. It was weak and useless, and the hunter's eyes snapped open as she recalled the moment the injury had occurred, the moment Ridley had jerked her arm too roughly and there had been a deep tearing sensation around her shoulder. She had not been able to so much as raise her arm cannon for the rest of the fight.

As she opened her eyes, she saw she was in some kind of building, and a quick glance around told her it was a castle. Her heart skipped a beat for a second when her first thought was the illusion castle in which they had found Peach, but she quickly realized that wasn't the case. She was in a queen-sized bed, lying tucked under a soft, heavy quilt. It was a much more muted shade of pink than the bed she had shared with Zelda, but Samus was certain she was back in Peach's castle in the Mushroom Kingdom.

Her mind traveled instantly to Zelda, and she looked around the room trying to find any sign of the princess's presence. There was a small sofa opposite what appeared to be a breakfast table with a couple of chairs. While it wasn't much, Samus thought it was an upgrade compared to the last room she had stayed in, and that furthered her conviction that she was somehow back in the Mushroom Kingdom castle.

But how had she gotten here? She tried to remember the battle. They had been surrounded. She had taken out the Space Pirates. Then she had turned to face Ridley and Ganondorf. Zelda had taken Pikachu and transported them both to safety while Samus fought Ridley.

She grimaced as she remembered the excruciating pain when her had torn her shoulder, rendering her cannon arm completely useless as he proceeded to throw her around like a dog tearing apart a toy. Was that when she had blacked out?

Her eyes widened and she felt herself begin to tremble as the rest of the fight came back to her. Zelda hadn't gotten to safety. Zelda had been there on the battlefield, and Ganondorf was about to land a killing strike. Somehow, exhausted as she was, Samus had managed to get away from Ridley just in time to protect Zelda from the attack.

That was when she had blacked out. Suddenly the deep wounds on her back made sense.

Slowly, Samus attempted to sit up, but the slightest pressure on her right arm made her wince as pain shot through it. Carefully, she shifted her weight over to her left side and managed to get into an upright position. It would be easier to ascertain her condition like that.

The first thing she noticed was that she wasn't in her power suit, and while that would normally concern her, the mere fact that she was alive told her it hadn't been removed in a violent fashion or shut down and disintegrated. It was far too integrated with her central nervous system for her to have survived either of those scenarios. Something had deactivated it, and she hoped that something was one of Zelda's magic tricks.

The next thing she shifted her attention to was her useless right arm. She had been injured enough times over the years to know what a torn rotator cuff felt like, and she knew at the very least that was part of the problem. By the way her upper arm was heavily bandaged, however, she knew there was more to it than that, and as she pulled the lifeless limb into her lap using her left hand, she knew she was going to be out of commission for a good minute. That scared her.

Pulling back the covers, she noticed that she was only wearing a black sports bra and a pair of baggy workout pants she recognized immediately as her own. Someone had managed to get into her ship, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she realized Zelda was the only one who could have done that. Whatever had happened after Samus fainted, Zelda had managed to escape here as well.

She just hoped the princess had made out better than she had, looking down at the bandages around her midsection. She felt her back and knew the deep wounds there had been treated and covered as well. She grit her teeth as she forced herself over and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Even as gingerly as she was moving, she could feel that she had broken at least a rib or two, but none of that mattered right now.

She needed to find Zelda and Pikachu. Regardless of her own condition, she wouldn't be able to rest at all until she knew they were all right. It took a few tries, but she was able to stand, holding the wall as best she could with her functional arm. It took way too much effort, and her legs trembled beneath her, but she forced herself forward. Just getting to the door felt like a momentous achievement, and her injured torso throbbed painfully.

Still, nothing deterred her from her quest. She would find Zelda or she would collapse trying. Samus was sweating and shaking as she opened the door. It felt far heavier than it should have, but she managed to get it open and step out into the hall. She wasn't sure what she had expected to find, but part of her had forgotten the castle had any other occupants, specifically the little mushroom people.

Someone shrieked suddenly, and Samus looked down to see a small mushroom woman. She was wearing a pink dress, and the top of her head was white with pink spots. She looked horrified upon seeing the bounty hunter, and Samus knew she must have looked like hell bandaged and bruised up as she was.

For a second, they just stood staring at each other. The mushroom girl seemed to be in shock, and Samus didn't have the wherewithal to begin any kind of small talk. After a while, the girl's face softened and she took a step forward.

"Are you okay?" she asked in a small voice, but Samus didn't answer. She decided the fact that she looked like death warmed over could speak for itself. The mushroom girl seemed to get the picture as she held up a hand. "Wait right here, okay?"

Samus didn't say anything as the girl hurried down the hall and out of sight. The bounty hunter vaguely wondered where she was going, but she was just grateful for the opportunity to rest and lean up against the wall. Sweat was running down her forehead by this point. She was in so much pain she wasn't sure how much longer she'd be able to stay on her feet.

"Samus?" a familiar voice called from down the hall, and the bounty hunter felt instantly lighter as she looked up to see Zelda running toward her.

"Zelda!" Samus called back as she forced herself forward toward the princess.

Zelda looked alarmed at seeing Samus trying to approach her in that state and quickened her pace. She was practically at a sprint when she finally reached Samus and threw her arms around her.

"I was so worried," Zelda said softly, resting her head against Samus's chest as the bounty hunter staggered backward into the wall. Even the hug from the petite princess hurt badly enough that she wanted to scream, but she didn't. Instead she wrapped her one working arm around Zelda and held her close.

"You're alive," Samus said, gently resting her cheek on the top of Zelda's head. The warmth of her body and the scent of the princess were absolutely intoxicating, enough to soothe a good bit of Samus's pain.

"What are you doing walking around like this?" Zelda demanded, pulling away from her embrace. Samus felt suddenly cold without her against her chest, though her ribs were thankful to be rid of the extra pressure.

"I was looking for you."

Zelda just shook her head. "You're in no shape to be wandering around like this."

"I needed to find you." Samus frowned. She didn't know how to convey to Zelda the urgency she had felt when she had woken up alone, not knowing where the princess was.

"You could have collapsed, Samus! Don't you think your body has taken enough of a beating already?"

"I needed to find you," Samus repeated, not sure what else to say.

Zelda let out an exasperated sigh. "I would have come in to check on you soon enough. You could have waited and gotten some rest."

"No." Samus looked her deep in the eyes. "I needed to find you. You weren't there, and I wouldn't be able to rest at all until I found you."

Zelda paused. She looked like she was at a loss for words as she looked up at the bounty hunter. "I'm fine, Samus. Pikachu, Peach, everyone, we're all fine. It's you we've been worried about."

"I'm fine."

The princess looked her up and down skeptically. "I don't think you're all right in even the most liberal definition of the phrase. I know you can't see what you looked like when I transported us back here but…" She paused, looking like she was trying to control herself. "We didn't know if you would make it. Your wounds are still—"

Samus pulled Zelda closer again with her good arm and held her tight despite the protests of her ribs. "You're here, and you're safe. So I'm fine."

Samus couldn't see what Zelda's face looked like, but the princess's silence let her know she was taken aback by the declaration.

"I only wanted to protect you," Samus continued, holding Zelda close and softy nuzzling her cheek on top of the princess's head. She didn't know where this sudden candor was coming from but she couldn't hold it back any longer. Her relief at seeing the princess alive and unscathed was overpowering. "My injuries will heal. I'm used to this. But I got so scared when I saw you had come back to that field, and the way Ganondorf was hovering over you… But you're safe so nothing else matters."

"Samus," Zelda said, looking up at the bounty hunter with some kind of emotion she couldn't place, "I couldn't just leave you there to fight those two alone."

"It doesn't matter." Samus's exhaustion finally reasserted itself, and she felt her legs threatening to give out. "I knew there was no way I was going to beat them. All I cared about was you and Pikachu getting to safety."

"That's the problem!" Zelda pulled away from the embrace. "You don't care enough about yourself! You're too important to lose. But you're injured like this because you wouldn't focus on anything but protecting me!"

The bounty hunter was very quiet for a moment as she looked into the princess's eyes. "I would take being wounded any day over losing you. Because if that ever happened…" She could feel her knees beginning to buckle as she gripped the wall for support. "If I had lost you, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

Zelda's face turned pink as she stared at Samus, desperately trying to figure out what to say. But her efforts were cut short as the bounty hunter's legs finally gave out and she tumbled forward. In an awkward effort to break Samus's fall, Zelda tried to catch her, but the nearly two hundred pound mercenary just ended up pulling her down until they were both on the floor.

The princess ended up trapped beneath Samus's torso, but she was able to maneuver around and sit up, scooting so her back was placed up against the wall as she pulled Samus close to her chest.

"Sorry," Samus said, feeling the hot pinpricks of embarrassment, "I guess I'm kind of a complete wreck right now."

She wanted to get back up. Lying on the ground and leaning on Zelda was ridiculous, and she hated to think of anyone seeing her in this state. But she found herself unable to move. Instead, she felt her body relax in spite of her as she rested her head on Zelda's chest. The princess was running her fingers through Samus's hair and lightly over her back.

"I wouldn't be able to live myself either," Zelda said after a few minutes, "if I had lost you."

"Why not?" Samus blurted out, suddenly cursing her impulsivity and wishing she could take it back. "I just mean… you know. I'm the one who was supposed to be protecting you, not the other way around."

Zelda held her close as she thought of what to say. "You know I don't just see you as a bodyguard."

"No," Samus said, closing her eyes as she lay against Zelda's chest. She felt so warm as she just rested and listened to the princess's heartbeat. For a moment, she didn't care that her body felt every second of the beating she had just received. She was just thankful Zelda was alive and that she had this opportunity to snuggle with her, even if she did hope no one would see. "I guess we're also friends, right?"

Zelda's fingers continued to run through Samus's hair and down her back, taking care to avoid the deep burns left by Ganondorf's magic. "I suppose that's one word for it."

Samus opened her eyes and looked up, but the princess wouldn't look at her.

Eventually Zelda took a deep breath and looked down at Samus. "Is that that you think of me as?" the princess asked. "We're friends?"

"Of course." Samus wasn't sure where the princess was coming from with that question. After all they had been through together, she wasn't sure how Zelda could doubt that she saw her as a friend at the very least.

"Oh, I see." There was a note of disappointment in the princess's soft voice, and Samus wasn't sure why.

"I mean… you're a very important friend." The bounty hunter floundered for words, not sure what she should say. She didn't understand why Zelda sounded so dejected, but she wanted to make her feel better. "I like you a lot, and I'm glad you're here with me. You're a great companion just like Pikachu!"

"…Like Pikachu?"

"Sure. You and Pikachu are great."

Zelda paused, and even her fingers stopped midway through Samus's hair. "Y-you see me just like you see Pikachu?"

"Um…" Samus didn't know what to say. Obviously, she had very different feelings for Zelda than she did for Pikachu, but she couldn't let the princess know that. The last thing she needed was to be burdened with some bounty hunter's unrequited affections, especially whenever she went back to Hyrule. "Well, maybe not exactly like I see Pikachu…"

"No, it's okay." Zelda smiled, but Samus could tell she was faking it. "You and Pikachu are really great pals. I'm honored you think of me so fondly."

Clearly she was not so honored because Samus could still feel the disappointment radiating off of her. She knew she needed to do something and she was utterly failing at it.

"Zelda," she said after moment, "I don't have very many friends. I never have. I really go out of my way to keep people at arm's length given the nature of what I do. Adam was a former CO. Doug is just a guy I get information from every now and then. Finding Pikachu and bringing him onto my ship was the first time I ever made a really close friend, the kind I was willing to share my home with."

"I'm sorry, Samus. I didn't mean to disparage your relationship with Pikachu, but—"

"Other than him, you're the only person who's been on my ship. Certainly the only human. That means something to me." Samus tried to sit up, but she was weak and wobbly. Eventually she was upright enough to make eye contact with Zelda, though her good arm held the princess for support. "Of all the people I've met in my life, you are the one dearest to me"

The princess just stared at Samus, her big blue eyes so full of feelings her mouth could not convey. At a loss for words, she reached her hand toward Samus's face and gently cupped her cheek. Samus just closed her eyes and leaned into it, feeling the warmth even through Zelda's silken glove. She didn't know what the gesture meant, but even if just for that moment, she decided to let herself believe that maybe she and the princess were not on such different pages after all.

"We should get you back to your room," Zelda said quietly. She spoke in a much smaller voice than Samus was used to, and as the bounty hunter opened her eyes, she could see something that looked like a mixture of nervousness and affection radiate across Zelda's features. Whatever the princess was feeling, that sadness seemed to have vanished. "You really shouldn't just be lying in the middle of a hallway in your condition."

"Heh… am I really that bad?"

"You were unconscious for three days, Samus. I don't know what you consider 'bad' but that certainly qualifies in my book."

"Three days?" Samus felt the color drain from her face. "I was out for three days?"

"I guess I should have led with that, but yes. Like I said, you were in pretty rough shape when we got back here, and we weren't sure you were even going to make it—"

"Where are Ridley and Ganondorf? Have they come here looking for me? What's happened since—"

Zelda held up a hand and gently began helping the bounty hunter to her feet. "There's been no sign of Ridley or Ganon. At all. From everything I can tell, the Mushroom Kingdom is perfectly safe. I don't sense anything like Ganon's energy anywhere in the area."

"But what about Peach? And why would they just—" Samus's eyes widened. "Of course they don't have any reason to be here… they got the Wonder and ran off with it. And now they've got three days on us hunting for the last two, assuming they hadn't found them already!"

Zelda held Samus's hand and tried to keep her steady. "Easy, Samus…"

"Why the hell didn't I think about this first? What is wrong with me?"

Gently the princess took Samus's good hand and placed it on her own upper arm so the bounty hunter could hold onto her for balance as they began to walk back to her room. "I think you just had a lot of other things on your mind when you woke up. After all, you did nearly knock yourself out again trying to look for me. And who knows how many days it would have taken you to wake up then?"

Zelda laughed, and Samus felt her anger ebb in spite of herself. She liked Zelda's laugh, and if the princess was making light of the matter, she obviously wasn't too bothered by the loss of one Wonder.

"Besides," Zelda continued, "we've still got the other Wonders on the ship. The important thing is that you survived, and when you're well enough to travel again, we'll just go after the rest. It's a setback, yes. But it isn't truly a defeat."

As they opened the door and stepped into the bedroom, Samus looked over at the bed she had apparently occupied for three days. "Sure feels like a defeat."

"We made it out alive. I'm calling it a victory."

Zelda carefully helped Samus onto the bed, avoiding putting pressure on any of her wounds as she climbed up and sat on the bed beside her.

"Pikachu saved the day, you know," Zelda said as Samus made her way over and rested her head once more on the princess's chest. The sound of her heartbeat was soothing.

"Oh yeah?"

"Big time." Zelda smiled as she began gently petting Samus's hair again. "You jumped in front of me to protect me from Ganon's attack, but it knocked you out. I was so scared. I didn't even know if you were alive or not and I just… froze. It wasn't until Pikachu came and did some kind of lightning attack and Peach tapped me on the shoulder that I snapped out of it. I used Farore's Wind to transport us back to safety. But Pikachu… he's really the one who saved the day."

Samus smiled. "Good old Pikachu."

"I didn't know he had those kinds of powers… or any powers if we're being honest."

"He's quite the force to be reckoned with, believe it or not."

Zelda smiled, and Samus closed her eyes as she nuzzled deeper into Zelda's chest.

"He gave a bunch of Space Pirates a real run for their money back on his homeworld," Samus continued. "By the time I got there, they had done a lot of damage. They had invaded some region called Kanto and left Celadon City in near ruins. Pikachu and his trainer escaped the worst of it, but the trainer got taken out by some Pirate Commandos just before I got there. By the time I did and managed to clear out the Pirate infestation, Celadon looked like a post-apocalyptic wasteland. I was getting ready to head out and chase them down to their next location, but that's when I saw this ragged looking little ball of matted fur waiting by my ship."

"Pikachu?"

Samus nodded. "He looked like hell, but he was carrying this weird golden orb. Then he tried to give it to me, and I had no idea what it was. I thought he was trying to pay me or something for taking out the Pirates, so I told him to keep it. But he wouldn't let me leave. Kept jumping on my shoulders and trying to give me that damn yellow ball."

"So you took it and let him join you?"

"Hell no!" Samus laughed. "I grabbed it from him and chucked it as far from me as I could and told him I didn't want any reward for this mission. That's when the little bastard electrocuted me, and I realized maybe there was something going on that I hadn't pick up on."

Concern flashed across Zelda's features. "Were you okay?"

"I was fine." Samus looked lazily up at the princess as she lay in her warmth. "He went and got the orb, and we communicated as best we could, and that's how I found out about his trainer. And that he was now the one acting as the Guardian for this thing, but he wanted me to take it because he thought it would be safer with me. So I took it."

"And what about Pikachu?"

"Obviously I took him too. I wasn't going to, but he had nothing to go back to. So I brought him onboard and cleaned him all up. And he wanted to feel like he was pulling his weight, so we made the arrangement that he would guard my ship while I went off to battle." Samus snickered. "He's not too consistent there, but he's a good little buddy. I did some research into the Space Pirate logs I had acquired and figured out this thing was one of the Seven Wonders, though I still didn't know much about them. And then we just tracked the Pirates through the galaxy and came across Hyrule and… well, you know the rest."

Zelda smiled as she looked down at the bounty hunter, and Samus could feel that warm feeling swell up in her chest again. "So you're not actually tied to any of this stuff with the Wonders, unlike those of us who are apparently Guardians?"

Samus tried to shrug but winced as pain tore through her injured shoulder. "I just hunt the Space Pirates. That's my job in life. If they're after something, there can't be a good reason for it, so I make sure they don't get it."

"You're so brave." The princess leaned over and gently placed a kiss on Samus's cheek. "Thank you. For your service not only to me and my kingdom, but also to the galaxy."

Samus felt her face get hot and turn red as she averted her eyes from Zelda.

"Bounty hunter or not," the princess continued, "you're a hero, Samus. Every bit as much of a real hero as Link. And don't ever get to thinking otherwise."

Samus didn't know what to say. She just closed her eyes tight and nestled deeper against Zelda's chest.

"I'm actually getting really tired," she muttered eventually. "I think… maybe I could try to get some real non-coma rest now that I know you and Pikachu are okay."

"Of course." Zelda gently helped Samus move so that her head was lying on a pillow and the princess was free from the Amazonian woman's weight.

"If it's not too much of a bother, would you mind—"

"I'll stay with you," Zelda said, laying down beside the hunter. "I have no intention of leaving your side."

"Thank you…"

Zelda's hand reached out and touched Samus's broken shoulder, a warm and unique energy radiating from it. As the soothing warmth permeated her skin, it flowed throughout her body, gently numbing the pain until it was barely noticeable. All that was left was the deep fatigue, and Samus didn't even try to fight it as she fell asleep curled up beside Zelda, the gentle healing spell easing more than just her body.


	18. Ch 18: Candlebright

**Author's Note:** Happy belated Valentine's Day and Mardi Gras, everyone. Hope you are all doing well.

Thank you for all the feedback and everything on my last few chapters. Y'all are awesome and I appreciate it. Things definitely started to progress a bit last chapter with Samus's little confession. lol. Hopefully they can keep up in that direction, but this is Samus and Zelda we're talking about so you never know... lol

I also just want to clarify that I have not played Breath of the Wild yet, so any references to a particular species in this chapter are to the version of that species from the Wind Waker.

 **Chapter 18: Candlebright**

Zelda pursed her lips and took a breath. She leaned forward with her elbows on the long stone table of the dining hall as she looked around at Mario, Luigi, and Peach. It was early, and the light coming through the stained glass windows was tinged with the orange glow of the rising sun.

"So other than the fact that it was a family heirloom," Zelda asked after a few moments, turning to Peach, "you don't know anything else about the origins of the red Wonder of Fire?"

Peach shook her head. "It's been in the Toadstool family for generations, along with many of our other jewels. Wherever it came from, that information has been lost long ago."

Zelda frowned. She had hoped that Peach would be able to give them some kind of lead on figuring out what the Wonders were and where they had come from originally. Neither Pikachu, the giant ape, nor the tiny pink ball creature hade been able to speak any language she could understand, so she had no way of knowing how they had come into possession of their respective Wonders and where they had come from before that. It seemed that even Peach was a dead end as far as that went, and she was no closer to figuring out what the Wonders did or why someone like Ganon would want them so desperately.

"So," Mario asked, leaning forward and raising an eyebrow at Zelda, "how'sa you girlfriend?"

"Mario!" Peach exclaimed, looking like she wanted to slap him, but Zelda remained unfazed. She had had a lot of training in terms of keeping her expression blank and professional.

"But really, dear," Peach continued, "how is Samus doing?"

"She's all right," Zelda replied, her tone short. "She's up and about at least."

It had been a couple of days since Samus had awakened, and despite the protests of Zelda and the others, the bounty hunter insisted in keeping busy and staying on her feet most of the day. Hanging around in the Mushroom Kingdom was making her restless, but though she was chomping at the bit to get back into space and pursue Ridley, Zelda and Pikachu had refused to leave the planet. Samus may have been stubborn and trying to keep active, but Zelda knew she had only recovered a fraction of her strength and it would be a while before she was in any condition to take on Ridley and Ganon again.

"If there's anything else we can do," Peach said, gently placing a hand on Zelda's, "please let us know. I hate feeling like my hands are so tied in this matter, especially knowing I was the one entrusted with protecting the Wonder that was lost."

Zelda smiled and put her other hand on top of Peach's. "Thank you, Your Highness, and thank you for the hospitality you've shown to Samus, Pikachu, and myself."

"It's no trouble at all. Please, stay as long as you need. The three of you are very brave, and again, my kingdom is available to you for anything. I only regret that I can't be of any real assistance on your quest."

She smiled gave Zelda's hand a quick squeeze before pulling away.

"I better be going," Zelda said, standing up. "All this talk of Samus does have me thinking I should go check on her. I really don't know what she's up to, but I know her well enough to know I really should."

Peach laughed. "Of course. Of course. I know what you mean."

With a polite nod, Zelda turned and exited the great dining hall. It wasn't until she was alone walking through the castle corridors that she realized she had been holding her breath and shuffling off a little too quickly. With a sigh, she took a breath and slowed her pace, taking a moment to process what had happened back there. It was frustrating to think that she was no closer to unlocking the mysteries of the Wonders now than she had been when they got here, but it was more upsetting to think Ganon and that dragon were out there wreaking havoc upon unsuspecting worlds while she was here and unable to do anything.

The truth was that she was itching to get back on their trail every bit as badly as Samus was, but she knew it wouldn't do any good to leave now. Samus's cannon arm was still out of commission, and the wounds on her back weren't healing like they should have. Even Samus had noticed something was wrong with them, and Zelda knew what the problem was. She had been able to tell, every time she had attempted to heal them, that the problem with those particular wounds was the powerful dark magic with which Ganondorf's attack had been infused. For some reason, Samus's body seemed to lack any resistance to the darkness, and it made Zelda worry. While dark magic was difficult to expel in Hylians, it seemed downright impossible in whatever kind of human variation Samus was. The best Zelda had been able to do was keep it contained to the original areas, but as a result, Samus wasn't healing properly.

As Zelda stepped outside of the castle and onto the royal grounds, she thought back to the moment Samus had been wounded. The moment she had thrown herself in front of Zelda to protect her from Ganondorf's attack.

Zelda had been in distress but far from helpless when that had happened. In fact, she had been counting on him casting those dark lightning bolts so she could use her own powers to deflect them back at him. But Samus hadn't known that, and rather than saving Zelda, she had taken away the one attack the princess could have used to defeat him.

Her intentions had been good, but Samus had been difficult to work with for most of that battle, insisting on holding Zelda like a useless doll rather than letting her cast her own spells and attacks. They would have stood a much better chance in that fight if they had actually worked together, but the bounty hunter had been so afraid of Zelda getting hurt, her protectiveness had actually sabotaged them both.

Zelda hadn't known how to approach this topic with Samus yet though. She knew she would have to do it before they attempted to go into battle again, but until Samus seemed to be hurting a little less, the princess didn't want to bring it up. After all, those wounds would likely sting a whole lot worse if Samus knew that she had not actually acquired them protecting Zelda.

As Samus's ship came into view, the princess slowed her pace further to the point where she was barely moving at all. Samus's ship looked brilliant and otherworldly in the gold orange light of the sunrise that matched it so perfectly. She imagined Samus's armor would have looked just as grand with the light striking it from this angle and found herself wishing she could see Samus in her armor again soon.

It was that feeling again, thoughts of the bounty hunter making her chest feel aflutter and warm. It had been growing for quite some time, but it had only been a couple of days ago when she had sat on the hallway floor holding a newly awakened and badly wounded Samus that she had felt able to acknowledge it.

"You are the one dearest to me," the bounty hunter had said, her head resting on Zelda's chest. And it was then the princess knew, even if Samus refused to say it outright, that they were both feeling the same way about each other. Because as she thought about her, even in the short time she had known her, Zelda knew it was true. All of the battles they had fought together, the times they had held one another, the times Samus had protected Zelda with her very life, even if they had only known each other a short while, Samus had become the one most dear to her as well.

All her life, the princess had had subjects, servants, and bodyguards she knew would lay down their lives for her for the sake of the kingdom, but that was just it. It was always for the sake of their princess and the kingdom as a whole, never for her simply as Zelda the woman. Samus had no such investment in her kingdom. Her devotion to keeping Zelda safe came entirely from within her, and her selflessness knew no bounds when it came to anyone weaker than herself. Samus was, in the truest sense, a guardian and protector of those she cared about. And she had the scars to prove she had stepped up owned that role time after time without any regard to her own interests.

As Zelda stood before the golden ship, she wished her companion were here and well enough to scoop her up once more and jump with her to the top, but she knew it would be a while before that happened again, if it ever did. Instead, she cast Farore's Wind and found herself instantly transported to the top of the ship. It was certainly a much faster way to get up and down, but the spell left her a little lightheaded and tired. Apparently, Samus was not the only one still recovering from their last fight, and being as drained as she was meant Zelda needed to take it easy as well.

Stepping onto the platform, she felt it lower her into the first chamber of the ship. Zelda could feel Samus and Pikachu's presence from the moment she stepped into the medical bay, and she saw them as soon as she opened and stepped through the hatch to the cabin area.

"Pikachu!" the Pokémon cried, his ears perking up happily as he ran to Zelda.

"Hello, Pikachu." She smiled and bent down to give him a couple of scratches behind his ears. He seemed content with this as he flopped over on the ground and rolled onto his back.

"Hey," a deep voice called, and Zelda looked over to see Samus watching her from the couch.

She wasn't sure why seeing the bounty hunter suddenly made her feel so unbalanced, and she wondered if the lightheadedness was from more than just using magic to get to the top of the ship.

Samus's torso and right arm were still heavily bandaged, and as a result, she was just wearing a red-orange leathery-looking crop-top and a pair of matching shorts. Her bare feet were up on the couch as she lay on her back, looking over her shoulder to greet Zelda. Her injured arm lay beside her, but her good hand seemed to be holding some kind of book up against her thighs.

"Hey," Zelda replied, stepping timidly through the cabin. She had no idea where this nervousness was coming from, but Samus must have noticed because there was a look of concern in the hunter's eyes as they followed Zelda.

"You all right?" she asked. It felt a bit ironic coming from a woman with the abdomen of a mummy.

"Oh, just a little tired I guess. Not quite back up for using magic yet." The princess tried to brush it off with a smile as she sat down beside Samus on the couch. The bounty hunter bent her knees more in an effort to give her space.

"I guess that makes sense," Samus said, but her eyes were still digging into Zelda like she could tell there was more on her mind.

Zelda decided it was time to change the subject. "What are you reading?"

Samus smirked and showed her the cover of the ancient tome labeled _Hyrule, A History._ "Your book."

"Oh…" Zelda raised her eyebrows in surprise. She had completely forgotten that Adam Malkovich had even given her that book when they had visited him over in the Galactic Federation office building.

"I take it you haven't looked through this at all?"

The princess shook her head, embarrassed that she hadn't given it so much as a thought after they had gotten back on the ship. "Have you found anything helpful?"

"Maybe…" Samus bent the corner of the page she was reading and flipped back to another bent page. Zelda winced to see a book treated in such a manner, particularly such an old book, but she didn't think she had any right to complain after she had basically abandoned it. "You mentioned a while ago that there was a race in your world that was like the Chozo. The Rito, right?"

Zelda nodded. "Yes, the bird-people."

Samus leaned forward, careful not to strain her bruised abdomen, as she handed the open book to Zelda. "The Chozo had colonies all over the galaxy. I think they may have settled in Hyrule at one point if those pictures of the Rito are any indication of what they actually look like."

Zelda studied the illustrations of the Rito in the book. They were all in black and white and appeared to be ancient. The beings in the pictures didn't resemble the modern Rito, but they were definitely the same species of anthropomorphic bird men. Instead of the brightly colored robes they wore now, they were depicted in drab, white-looking robes with bizarre symbols on them that Zelda had never seen before. They seemed almost like some kind of square letters.

"Those are ceremonial Chozo robes," Samus said. "I recognize them. I've worn them."

Zelda looked up at her in shock. "The Rito are descendants of the Chozo? But how could that be? Their technology is no more advanced than ours."

Samus shrugged. "They also have wings and seem to be able to fly. The Chozo lost that ability long ago. I guess maybe it has something to do with your world's magic? But that's just a guess."

"Maybe the Chozo know." Zelda could feel herself getting excited for the first possible lead on the connections between their worlds and possibly even the origins of the Wonders themselves. "We could go back to your home world and—"

Samus just shook her head. "I'm the last of my kind. Any other pockets of Chozo living, well… I have good reason to believe they would be hostile to me given that I was a member of the Zebesian brood before it died out."

Zelda felt a chill pass under her skin. She knew Samus's human parents had been killed, but she didn't know any of the details of what had happened to the beings who raised her.

"Is there any other way to search their history though?" Zelda asked, closing the book and handing it back to Samus. "Anyone else who might have known it?"

Samus thought for a moment as she took the book and leaned it back on her lap. "Perhaps the Luminoth…"

"Is that another species from your home world?"

Samus shook her head. "No, the Luminoth are a species I recently helped on their own world, a planet called Aether. They knew the Chozo. Their planet was split into two worlds by a destructive substance called Phazon. They were able to combine their own technology with my suit to give me better protection from the atmosphere of the dark world so I could destroy it from the inside and fix their planet for them."

"Do you think they would really know about the connection to the Rito?"

Samus shrugged. "I don't know. I was raised as a Chozo, and I know nothing of them, but their divergence from the rest of the species was likely well before my time. The Luminoth though, they're an ancient race, possibly as old as the Chozo. They could have access to texts and records I never knew existed. All I have is my armor and the limited amount of log entry data stored in it."

That gave Zelda pause as it struck her once again how truly alone Samus was in the galaxy. While her own position as royalty and a time traveler had isolated her from most people over the years, she had always had her people's history at her fingertips. She couldn't imagine living in a world where she wasn't surrounded by Hylians and especially not a world in which she was the last Hylian. Their culture, history, and legends had been omnipresent in her life since her birth, so she found it profoundly troubling that Samus was completely cut off from her own kind aside from the armor and weaponry she carried.

"Are you all right?" Samus asked again. "Still lightheaded from using magic?"

Zelda shook her head. "No, I'm okay. Really. I just… I was just lost in thought I guess."

Samus carefully swung her legs off of the couch and sat up, positioning herself next to Zelda. "Did I keep you up last night?"

"No, nothing like that." Zelda gave her a gentle smile noting the concern in the bounty hunter's face. "You still sleep soundly when we're together."

Samus blushed a little, and it made Zelda feel warm to see her like that. Ever since they had discovered a way for Samus to sleep without having nightmares, the princess had curled up beside the bounty hunter every night. It had actually become a routine, and though it seemed odd, Zelda had to admit it helped her sleep a lot better too.

"How are you feeling today?" Zelda asked, realizing Samus had been the one inquiring about her wellbeing since she had gotten onto the ship, but she hadn't asked about Samus once.

"About the same," she said with a shrug. She flexed her right hand and elbow. "Shoulder is still wrecked, but I can move my forearm and kind of hold things as long as they aren't too heavy. Still can't raise it though."

Zelda nodded. At least there appeared to be some progress as far as her recovery went, even if it was moving much slower than Samus claimed it normally would. "How are the wounds on your back? Can I take a look at them?"

Samus looked at Zelda, her face set with concern. "I don't think you should be trying to heal me right now, especially not if just teleporting to the top of my ship made you feel dizzy."

"I'm all right. Really. Can I just take a look?"

Samus sighed but relented, turning her back to Zelda so the princess would be able to see the wounds Ganondorf had inflicted.

Zelda gently placed a hand on Samus's upper back as her other one undid where the bandages were held together. Slowly, she unwrapped the layers of gauze until she came to the sterile pads underneath and peeled those away as well. Samus's muscular back was still heavily bruised, and two massive burns marred her skin just below where her tank top cut off. Zelda nearly gasped when she saw the deep wounds. To her absolute horror, they looked even worse today than they had the day before.

The dark energy around them was thicker and heavier than it had been before, and they were almost a violet black in color. Only now, unlike any time she had seen them before, she could see deep purple vein-like markings extending from them. The princess didn't know what to make of it. Despite all of her attempts to heal Samus, the darkness was actually beginning to spread, and that terrified her.

"Everything okay?" Samus asked, and Zelda was just thankful the hunter couldn't see what was going on.

"Could be better," she admitted.

"No improvement from yesterday?"

"If anything, your wounds actually seem to be getting worse."

Samus frowned, and though she was mostly looking away from the princess, Zelda could see a hint of fear around Samus's eyes. "Anything else you know that we can try?"

Zelda took a deep breath. "No. My healing magic, from everything I know, should be sufficient. But for some reason, your body seems particularly susceptible to the effects of dark magic, and I can't figure out why."

Samus's skin became cold and clammy under Zelda's hands, and the princess realized the bounty hunter's breath was starting to come faster again.

"Samus," she said softly, "it'll be all right. We'll find a way to deal with. It's just dark magic. It's—"

"We need to get to Aether," Samus said, whipping around and looking Zelda dead in the eyes. "It's darkness, right? Maybe… maybe like the dark world? The one the phazon created?"

"I don't really know—"

"The Luminoth had this energy, the Light of Aether or something… it protected me when I went into Dark Aether. Maybe they have something that could fix this. Maybe…"

Zelda was at a loss for words. "Maybe."

Somehow that seemed to reassure Samus a little because her posture relaxed and her expression softened. "I'm sorry. I don't know why my body isn't being cooperative."

"That's… the last thing you have to worry about." Zelda placed a hand on the back of Samus's shoulder. "Until we can get to Aether though, please let me try healing you again or at least getting the dark energy contained a bit better."

"I don't want you doing that if it's going to drain you again."

Zelda just smiled awkwardly. "Eh. The worst that will happen is I'll get tired and pass out on this couch. I think that's a lot better than the alternative."

"I guess so," Samus replied with a sheepish half-grin. For once it seemed like she wasn't in the mood to be difficult, and Zelda was more than all right with that.

"Okay," the princess said as the warm energy rushed into her palms once more and the bounty hunter turned to face away from her. "Here we go."

Gently, she pressed her hands up to each of the dark burns as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could feel the intensity of Ganon's magic much more than the other times she had done this. It alarmed her, but she ignored it as she focused on negating it and trying to shrink its range. For some reason, it seemed to be putting up much more resistance today than usual, but at least she could feel it dissipating beneath her. She could only imagine what Samus was feeling with all of this going on.

Sweat beaded on Zelda's forehead as she ran her hands around Samus's back. Warm, healing magic sliced through the dark miasma that she sensed. She took a few breaths to steady herself. She was making progress now, significant progress.

For a while longer, she continued, just as always, until she got to the point at which she would normally stop to let Samus try recovering on her own for a while. Except this time she didn't stop. Even as it was disappearing and the dark lines faded from view, Zelda couldn't get their image out of her head. As she focused her energy on Samus and tried desperately to cleanse her from Ganon's magic, she couldn't stop imagining the darkness spreading. And if it was growing resistant to her magic, she knew it would eventually spread far enough to take Samus from her completely, and she couldn't let that happen. She needed to get rid of all of it.

The room spun as Zelda could feel herself starting to sway, but she ignored it as she focused on Samus instead. There was still darkness in her, even if it was a lot less than she would normally let stay between healing sessions. Her better judgment told her to call it quits and let herself recharge for a while, but she ignored it. The thought of losing Samus terrified her, especially losing Samus to something like this.

"Zelda?" she heard the bounty hunter call out as she felt herself shift over to the side and fall over. One strong arm managed to catch the princess as Samus pulled her onto her lap. "Zelda, are you all right?"

The princess opened her eyes to see Samus and Pikachu looking down at her with concern across both of their faces. She just grinned drunkenly and closed her eyes again for a moment as she let the world steady itself.

"I'm okay…" Zelda said, her voice trailing off a little at the end. "Guess I jusss kinda overdid it…"

"I told you it was a bad idea for you to try healing me in your condition."

Zelda kept her eyes closed just long enough to feel better before clumsily trying to sit up again. Samus gave her a hand, and in no time, she was upright beside the hunter once more.

"Are you all right?" Samus asked again. "Do you need water? Food? Something else I don't know about that restores magic? Chocolate?"

"I'm fine, Samus," she said, her voice stronger now as she opened her eyes. "I told you, the worst that could happen is I pass out on the couch, and it didn't even get to that point."

"You still shouldn't have pushed yourself," Samus scolded, her face set like a worried mother's. "It's not worth it."

"When are you going to knock that off?" Zelda asked before she could stop herself.

"Knock what off?"

The princess thought it would probably be best to drop the topic right then and there, but something pushed her forward. Perhaps it was just how fed up she was with Samus talking that way. "When are you going to stop acting like your well-being is somehow less important than everyone else's?"

Samus just looked at her for a moment. "Zelda, my body is built to take—"

"To take what? Straight up abuse? Because that's how you act! You freak out every time I so much as get dizzy, and yet you keep doing reckless things like throwing yourself between me and dragons or a dark wizard!"

The bounty hunter glared at her. "I already told you. I refuse to let—"

"You refuse to let anyone hurt me because I'm dear to you," Zelda said with more confidence than she felt, looking Samus straight in the eyes. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe you're dear to me too? That seeing you suffer is every bit as difficult for me?"

Samus just shook her head and looked away. "It's not the same thing," she muttered.

"What's so different about it?" Zelda demanded, refusing to back down now. "Do you think you're inherently less worthy of someone caring about you? Do you really believe you're just a tool of war and it doesn't matter if you live or die? Do you believe my idiot father back in Hyrule who thinks my life is more important than yours just because I'm a princess?"

"No," Samus barked, looking back at Zelda. "It's not anything like that!"

"Then what is it? Why do you think I can't possibly care about you as much as you care about me?"

"Because I—" She stared at Zelda, her face red with emotion and her eyes practically pleading with the princess not to make her say what came next. "You couldn't possibly feel the same way I do because I'm in love with you."

She said the words like they were something dirty, like she was confessing to Zelda that she had just killed a man, and as they tumbled out of her mouth, she hung her head in shame.

"I'm sorry," Samus continued. "I didn't mean to. I know you… you're not used to being around women like me, and I'm sorry… I don't mean to make you uncomfortable, and I don't want you to feel like I'm some kind of predator or something. You don't have to return my feelings or do anything. It's my problem, not yours."

Zelda just looked up at her in stunned silence for a moment. She felt the sudden urge to cry, although it wasn't from sadness. "Why would that be a problem?" she asked, slowly reaching a hand out to Samus's shoulder. "Why are you apologizing for loving me? There's nothing wrong with that… there's nothing predatory about that."

Samus just looked at Zelda, her eyes red like she was holding back tears as she forced herself to keep that stoic look she always wore. "I'm a woman, Zelda. And I'm a mercenary. You don't need to be bothered with the feelings of someone like me."

Zelda's hand moved slowly from Samus's shoulder to her face, and before she knew what she was doing, she leaned in, pulling the hunter toward her as their lips met. She kissed her tenderly, lovingly, hoping it could convey all the things she couldn't say, the words for which she found herself at a loss. She savored the feeling of Samus's lips against hers, and even as they separated, she could still taste the hunter's warm breath as she looked up at her.

"It doesn't bother me," Zelda whispered. She caressed the side of Samus's face and pushed a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. "I love you, too."

Samus closed her eyes, and tears cascaded down her face. It was obvious she had been holding everything in for so long that it had been eating away at her. Having Zelda return her feelings was the last thing she expected to happen. And yet here they were living out a fantasy neither had dared to acknowledge she was having.

"I love you, Samus," Zelda repeated as she kissed her again, and this time Samus leaned in as well, wrapping her good arm around the princess as the other hand gently held her waist.

Zelda wrapped her arms around Samus's neck as their lips met over and over. It was the purest moment of ecstasy Zelda had ever experienced, and she could feel that same raw joy radiating off of Samus as she held and kissed Zelda so lovingly and gratefully. For that moment, everything else just fell away, and everything seemed right in the universe.


	19. Ch 19: At Last

**Author's Note:** Hey everyone, sorry for the delay. I had an abolustley massive exam and then I got a Switch and Breath of the Wild. It's been super hard to pull myself away from it. lol. It's really an amazing game, and I highly recommend it.

Anyway, you've waited long enough for more of the story, so I'll stop babbling now. Here it is! Enjoy!

 **Chapter 19: At Last**

It felt unreal. The soft breathing. The warm body in her arms. Gently caressing her hair as she watched Zelda sleep. Samus wasn't sure how this could be happening, particularly to her of all people. It made no sense, and yet, here they were.

The bounty hunter could still taste the princess's kisses from their confession earlier. Neither of them had wanted that moment to end, but eventually it did. Much sooner than either had hoped. Despite the initial surge of energy between them, it became rapidly apparent that Zelda was still quite drained from her attempts at healing Samus, and when she looked slightly off balance, Samus had scooped her up and carried her over to the bed in which they now lay.

It had been difficult to carry the princess when she only had the use of one arm, but Samus's ship wasn't large, and even injured she was still far stronger than the average human. Still, the bounty hunter was thankful for the time to rest. As much as she insisted she was ready to get back into space and head to the next planet, she was still getting tired very easily. Too easily. She supposed she and Zelda were in the same boat in that sense.

Only they weren't. Zelda was drained and exhausted, but given time to rest, she would recover. Samus was still badly wounded, and it wasn't healing. No matter what the princess did, Ganon's dark magic still had not been completely eradicated from her body, and she didn't know how much more time she had. More importantly, Zelda wouldn't recover her power if she kept pouring every ounce of it into trying to save Samus.

No, the bounty hunter concluded as she looked at the sleeping woman she held, she could not let Zelda keep sacrificing her energy like that. They had to find another way to heal Samus, and if that couldn't be done, then Zelda would have to recover enough of her power to go on in the hunter's absence.

Samus just watched Zelda, the gentle rise and fall of her chest, the soft breathing. She wanted to burn it all as deep into memory as she could. Even if she didn't have much time left, Zelda was important to her. Their mutual confession was probably the single greatest thing that had ever happened to her. Even if their relationship was doomed before it began. Even if there was no way it could ever be anything more than words spoken in private. That was all right. She had never expected that she would even get that.

Zelda began to stir, and within a few moments, she lay with her eyes open and staring at Samus. The bounty hunter tried to smile, but it was awkward and lopsided. She could tell by the princess's face that she was having as hard of a time believing this was real as Samus was. Her series of confused facial expressions in rapid succession suggested she was trying to figure out if she had dreamed everything. And when she realized everything had been one hundred percent real, the smile on the princess's face lit up the room.

"You're still here," she said, looked over at Samus.

The hunter tilted her head to one side. "Where did you expect me to go?"

Zelda just shook her head, still beaming. "Forget it. I'm just so glad to see you."

"That's not something I hear everyday."

"Hmph." Zelda chuckled as she leaned forward and gave Samus a quick peck on the lips. "Get used to it."

Samus just stared at her.

"What?" the princess asked, sitting up in bed as Samus followed.

"I… wasn't expecting you to do that, I guess."

"You mean kiss you?"

Samus nodded. "I mean, in retrospect, I guess I should have expected it, but it just felt kind of random."

"Oh. I guess we need a huge emotion-filled confession before every kiss?"

"…So that's still how it is between us?"

It was Zelda's turn to be confused as she looked at the hunter. "I thought that's how it worked? We both admitted our feelings for each other. Now we're… um... girlfriends? Maybe?"

"I don't think that's how that works?"

"You would know better than I would."

Samus frowned as she looked away from Zelda, swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. She was still wearing her red-orange workout clothes and put on the matching boots.

"I've never done this before," Zelda said as she stood up as well and straightened out her dress. "Members of the royal family usually get betrothed into assigned marriages."

"Are you betrothed?" A quick ping of panic shot through Samus at the thought, and she realized she should have considered it earlier.

But Zelda shook her head. "Not yet anyway… although this would kind of throw a wrench into those plans if they ever manifested."

There were a thousand things racing through Samus's mind with that comment, all revolving around how the two of them could never actually be together and how she didn't want to interfere with Zelda's position in her kingdom, especially considering Ganon's magic was slowly killing her and it would soon be a moot point anyway. Unless, of course, they could find a way to heal her.

"Hey, Zelda." Samus looked over to her, trying to run logistics in her head as she figured out what she wanted to say. "How much longer did you want to stay on this planet?"

"Hmm? I assumed until you were healed. But you also mentioned you had friends who might be able to help with that so if you want to go see if they can help you, I won't try to hold you back."

"I think that would be a good idea."

Zelda nodded. "I do too. You can use their Light of Either."

"Aether. Light of Aether. And yeah, they might let me… though I don't actually know if it would help."

Zelda smiled and walked over to Samus, placing her hands on the hunter's chest and snuggling into it. "It has to. I refuse to lose you this quickly."

The sentiment felt alien to Samus and made her heart race, but she wrapped her arms around Zelda's shoulders and held her close as she placed a kiss on top of the princess's head. "I don't have any intention of dying just yet."

"Good. You better not."

The hunter chuckled as she looked down at Zelda. The princess stood close to a foot shorter than her. "Are you threatening me now?"

"Yes. You should be very intimidated."

Samus laughed again as Zelda stood up on her tiptoes and the two of them shared a proper kiss. She could feel that indescribable warmth in her chest again and the heat radiating off of her lover's body. It still felt unreal, even standing together like this, and that was a little unsettling. Part of Samus felt like she was still in the distance, watching everything happen as though it were a movie, and that scared her.

As she felt her body go cold, she let go of Zelda and hastily took a step back. "We should tell Peach we're leaving. It's only fair considering her hospitality."

Zelda looked confused by the sudden switch in demeanor, but she nodded and didn't ask any questions as she followed Samus toward the exit hatch. Neither of them said anything as they walked, although Samus was certain Zelda had as many questions about what had just happened as she did.

When they got through the exit hatch and to the top of the ship, Samus had a quick moment of panic wondering if Zelda would need her to carry her down, but the princess just smiled and summoned Farore's Wind without her needing to say anything. Samus was thankful for that at least.

It felt so embarrassing that she still wasn't strong enough to carry the princess off the ship. As it was, her own descent was much less fluid than usual as she climbed down. She lowered herself to the ground gingerly, pressing her injured arm over her broken ribs as she did so. Zelda waited patiently and didn't comment as Samus felt the hot embarrassment rush over her face. She hated being so weak, and she desperately hoped U-Mos would be able to save her.

Much to Samus's surprise, Zelda didn't seem bothered by Samus's pathetic display trying to get off of the ship. She didn't have that look of pity in her eyes that Samus hated people wearing when they looked at her. Instead, she just smiled and reached out her hand to her, and Samus took it without hesitation. Somehow, the contact made her feel a bit more grounded and she just hoped that feeling of nothing around her being real wouldn't come back. It was too unsettling.

The princess and the bounty hunter walked hand in hand back toward Peach's castle. Samus figured they would have some explaining to do once they got inside, even if Mario and Luigi had already insisted the two women were couple. It wasn't a long walk, but Samus was enjoying it. She loved the feel of Zelda's hand in hers and the way they could be so open about it. She had a feeling when they got back to Hyrule, things weren't going to be this easy, even before they'd have to part ways.

Peach wasn't in the great dining hall when they got there, but after a quick sweep of the castle they found her sitting up in the throne room. She was surrounded on either side by her mushroom-headed guards. Samus could feel Zelda stiffen at the sight of the Toads. Even after all this time, she still wasn't used to them. It amused Samus.

"Good evening, Princess Peach," Zelda said in her most formal tone, still holding Samus's hand as she gave a light curtsy.

"Good evening, Princess Zelda," Peach replied in a warm tone. "And good evening to you too, Lady Aran."

Samus didn't react to the title. She hated being called by any kind of title, but she figured it would be rude to admonish the princess for what she was certain was intended as a gesture of good will.

"So," Peach continued, unfazed by Samus's silence, "What brings you here today?" She eyed the women's interlocked hands.

Samus wasn't sure what to say, and for some reason her brain shot into a mini panic as Peach looked at them.

"Princess Zelda and I are lesbians together," she blurted out and suddenly became beet red as soon as she realized how awkward that sounded. All of the Toads turned to look at her and wore expressions that were equally as amused as those worn by the two princesses.

"Congratulations," Peach said, not missing a beat as she continued to smile at them. Samus felt really dumb and wanted to kick herself for blurting it out like that, but she liked honesty and had never really been good at subtlety. There had not actually been any practical reason to tell Peach anything about her relationship with Zelda, but it was so fresh on her mind, she was just bursting to tell anyone. Besides, it's not like she had ever had anything quite like this before.

"Yes," Zelda fumbled awkwardly, trying hard not to keep her eyes away from Samus. "We are… well, some kind of a couple more or less."

"They're girl-a-friends!" Mario's voice called suddenly from behind them as Samus and Zelda turned to watch the plumber stroll into the room. "Didn't I tell-a you? _Amore_!"

He looked so smug, part of Samus wanted to punch him, but she had to admit he was right. Somehow, this guy had called want she was feeling before she ever admitted it, and he had called what Zelda was feeling while Samus was too busy being in denial that anyone could ever feel "amore" for her.

"We still haven't settled on a title yet," Zelda politely informed him before turning back to Peach. "We actually came here to discuss a completely different matter before we got side-tracked. We want to thank you for your hospitality. It's really been above and beyond what we've experienced on any planet thus far."

"But it's time for you to go," Peach finished. She just nodded. "I knew this was coming as soon as you told me Samus wasn't healing correctly. You want to save her, and we both know there's nothing on this planet that can do that."

Zelda nodded. "Yes. Samus thinks that some beings from a different planet she's traveled to might be able to help her. They apparently do this sort of thing."

"I understand." Peach's voice was so calm and regal, Samus was amazed. It was still shocking to her that anyone so soft and almost ditzy-looking could have such a commanding presence. "I owe you my life… and my kingdom. If you had not been here, who knows what could have happened? My only regret is that you could not be here in time to save poor Bowser."

"He was a good partner for-a golfing and-a go-carts." Mario looked genuinely bereaved for the loss of the giant lizard who had apparently kidnapped his girlfriend on a regular basis prior to Ganon and Ridley's arrival. It just cemented Samus's belief that no matter how much kindness they had shown them, she would still never understand this planet or its system of government.

"And we thank you for your hospitality," Zelda replied, "and give our condolences for the loss of your friend. But we have to go now."

"If there's ever any way we can be of service in the future, please don't hesitate to let us know. I wish you the best of luck in finding help for Samus and completing your quest for the remaining Wonders."

"Thank you." Zelda smiled and nodded to each of the members of the royal court before giving Samus's hand a gentle squeeze. The mercenary just gave one general nod in everyone's direction before she and Zelda turned and left the castle once more.

Getting back on top of her ship was a trick, and though she could see Zelda was tempted to offer her assistance, Samus was thankful she didn't. It was bad enough she wasn't able to carry the princess at the moment. She didn't need anyone helping her onto her own ship like she was completely helpless.

When they got back into the ship, Samus headed straight for the cockpit and took a seat in her pilot's chair. She was inputting the coordinates for Aether when Zelda appeared behind her.

"Any room in here for one more?" the princess asked, standing beside her and watching as the colorful holoscreens flashed and flickered while Samus adjusted the ship's settings and started it up.

"It's a one-seater," the bounty hunter replied, but she gestured over to something on the back wall. "But there's an emergency bucket seat that folds up into the wall. If you can pull it down, you can sit on that. It's not very comfortable though, so I recommend the cabin."

Much to Samus's surprise, however, not only did Zelda opt to pull down the extra seat, but as she sat down in it, Pikachu jumped into her arms. The princess and the Pokémon were just sitting there, smiling and watching Samus work, and it was one of the strangest things she had ever felt. Her cockpit was normally a place of solitude, the place she had slept for years between missions, and now there were two beings sitting in it with her, watching over her shoulder as she took off and piloted the ship out of the planet's atmosphere. It was such a strange feeling, but it was a strangely good feeling.

No one said anything for a while as Samus navigated their current galactic quadrant, but even the quiet presence of her companions was enough to set the hunter's mind at ease. Somehow, it gave her hope that U-Mos and the Luminoth might actually be able to help her and maybe she wasn't just a dying woman grasping at straws.

When it finally came time to make the jump into hyperspace, Samus kicked on the autopilot and turned to face the eagerly awaiting Zelda and Pikachu.

"So even at this speed, it's going to take a few hours to get to Aether," she said, noting that neither of them seemed phased by the news. "I figure maybe we should take a break and rest up before we get there."

Zelda raised an eyebrow. " _You're_ suggesting we take a break and rest?"

The remark caught Samus off guard, and she wasn't sure how to respond to it. "Why not?"

The princess just shrugged and snickered. "I didn't know you were capable of resting voluntarily. I thought you had to get knocked out or something."

Samus frowned. "You've seen me rest. I laid down with you after you almost passed out just a few hours ago…"

"Exactly, you laid down with me because _I_ almost passed out. You never do it to take care of yourself." Zelda eyed Samus suspiciously. "And when was the last time you ate?"

"Around noon." It wasn't technically a lie. She just didn't specify which day. Having difficulty getting on and off of the ship meant she rarely attended meals at the castle with Zelda and Peach.

"Mhmm…" Zelda looked smug as Pikachu jumped out of her arms and she stood up. "Well, lucky for you then, I'm getting kind of hungry after sleeping through lunch at the castle, so I'm going to head into the kitchen and whip something up. I can just double the recipe if you'd like."

Given how long she'd go without eating on long missions, it wasn't always easy for Samus to tell when she was hungry, but the thought of Zelda preparing something practically made her salivate. She didn't know why a royal ever needed to learn how to cook when she had staff to do that for her, but Zelda must have learned from the best. She'd managed to make things Samus didn't even know it was possible to make in the ship's tiny efficiency kitchen, and they had recently received several types of fresh fruits and vegetables from Peach's royal garden. Whatever she was about to prepare would be amazing, and Samus knew it.

"Yes, please," the hunter replied, following the princess into the ship's cabin. Just as she expected, Zelda went straight for one of the wooden vegetable crates and pulled out a few of the strange turnips.

The turnips had kind of weirded Samus out since they looked almost like they had faces on them, but for some reason, they were absolutely delicious when cooked into a stew, and Samus suspected that's what Zelda was doing now. The princess grabbed a pot and a cutting board and moved fluidly through the tasks as though she had done this sort of thing thousands of times. It was so unusual for a royal, at least the ones Samus had encountered on various worlds, to be skilled in such a mundane skill, but it just made her love that about Zelda all the more.

She was no chef herself, but she could follow along with what Zelda was doing. It felt nice just sitting like this, the two of them and Pikachu in a quiet, domestic setting worlds away from any battles. It felt like they were a small family rather than three travelers from different worlds, and Samus almost wished they could stay like this all the time. Although if that ever came to fruition, she would prefer a home that was actually large enough for two people and a Pokémon.

"This is nice," Samus said after a while. It felt stiff and awkward, but she wanted to let Zelda know how she was feeling. Clearly repressing her emotions hadn't worked out well. "I like watching you cook… you just look like you know what you're doing."

Zelda glanced over her shoulder and gave Samus that slightly embarrassed half-smile she always seemed to wear when the bounty hunter said something that didn't come out in exactly the right way. "Someone has to do it, and I know you won't."

"I'd be willing to try it sometime." Samus's instincts told her to stop talking, to try to disengage before the conversation actually became intimate, but she did her best to force them down. "I'd like to cook for you… return the favor. You're always fussing over me so it would only be fair for me to reciprocate."

Zelda looked taken aback as she stopped stirring the stew and just held the ladle in place as she looked at Samus. "It's a sweet offer, but I've seen those mummified things in brown paper that you refer to as food. I think I'll stick to this, and you can stick to sailing this ship and things like that."

"…Noted." Perhaps offering to cook was not the gesture she had been hoping it would be. Still, she wanted to do something nice for Zelda. At the very least, she planned to clean up when the meal was over.

The two women sat down to eat at the small table, and Pikachu sat on top of it with his own bowl of the vegetable stew. Samus must have actually been hungry because she practically inhaled it and found herself wanting more, and fortunately, Zelda had anticipated that and made plenty of extra. In the end, the bounty hunter ended up indulging a bit too much and found herself very full and somewhat sleepy as she cleaned everything up.

"You didn't sleep earlier," Zelda said suddenly as Samus finished putting away the dishes.

The bounty hunter raised an eyebrow. "No, I didn't."

"Maybe you need to catch up on that… you look just about ready to fall into a food coma, and considering you ate three bowls of that thick stew, I'm not surprised."

Samus was about to argue, but when she opened her mouth, she ended up yawning instead and realized it was pointless. "You aren't wrong…"

The princess laughed as she reached out her hand to the bounty hunter once more, just as she had on their way to Peach's castle that morning. "Well? What do you say? How about we going to bed and get a few hours of sleep before arriving on Aether?"

Without hesitation, Samus took the princess's hand, but rather than walk with her as they had earlier, she pulled Zelda close into her arms and swept her clean off of her feet. "I would love to," she whispered as she carried her companion toward the bedroom once more. "Always."


	20. Ch 20: Crystal Visions

**Author's Note:** See? I promised it wouldn't take me a month to update this time (even if my spare time is still hopelessly consumed with playing Breath of the Wild.)

Anyway, not much to say but thank you to everyone who read, reviews and support's this story! You rock! And Enjoy Chapter 20!

 **Chapter 20: Crystal Visions**

Planet Aether. It was a gray world, bleaker looking than any planet they had been to before. From the moment the ship touched down on it surface, Zelda could tell something very wrong had happened here recently. Exiting the ship and seeing it up close didn't improve matters at all.

Zelda followed behind Samus, who had donned her power suit once more. The hunter had said there were no monsters to worry about now, but she had other reasons for wearing it. Apparently, the Luminoth were like many of her acquaintances and had never seen her outside of her armor either. It made sense, but something about the way she constantly had to hide her identity made Zelda a little uneasy in a way she had not felt before.

Then again, it might have just been seeing her there, in the fully powered armor on this desolate planet and realizing it was the one place where the hunter didn't stick out like a sore thumb. She looked almost like she belonged on this world amongst its gray and rust brown structures that had a motif that made them look both ancient and futuristic at the same time. Nothing looked manmade. It was so… alien. And for the first time it hit her just how alien Samus was as she followed along listening to the metallic thud of the hunter's boots on the ground that appeared to be made of the same material as the surrounding buildings.

"That's the Great Temple," Samus said in her suit's synthetic voice as she pointed to some kind of structure up ahead. Zelda could only guess it was a building, and she would not have thought it was a temple.

The princess didn't say anything as she followed the bounty hunter into the entryway of the temple. It didn't resemble the temples back in Hyrule that were built for the beloved goddesses. There were no stones walls or ornate altars, only more of that gray almost-metallic material. The only things ornamental were the rust-colored geometric circles that seemed embossed onto the floors and the beams of unpleasantly hard light coming in through the openings in the ceiling. If temples in Hyrule had a soft and almost comforting feeling, then this one was the exact opposite.

However, even the austere architecture of this world could not have prepared her for what she saw standing in the middle of the temple. Massive creatures. Three of them. Beings she had never seen in her life. They appeared to be more insect than man, though they stood nearly three times Samus's height. The fuzzy anthropomorphic moth men were shades of gray and tan that looked tailor- made for this planet, save for the few pinkish-red markings toward the centers of their bodies.

Zelda wasn't sure how the moth men could see out of their blind-looking pink eyes, but ear-like feathers at the tops of their head moved about like sensors. She could feel the hair on the back of her neck standing up at the sight of the otherworldly beings, but Samus strode forward with more confidence than Zelda had seen the hunter display in human settings, and much to her surprise, the moth beings fell into deep bows, each with a hand covering where she presumed a heart would be.

"Welcome, Savior," came a voice Zelda could only assume was coming from the center moth, probably the leader. "We hope you have returned to our world well and still bathed in the Light of Aether."

When he finished speaking, Samus simply bowed her head in greeting before looking back up at the alien. "I wish I were here under better circumstances. While I'm grateful to be reunited with the Luminoth, I'm afraid I'm actually not well at all. But first things first."

She gestured to Zelda, who had been standing slightly behind Samus, not realizing how small she had been trying to make herself while the Luminoth spoke. Zelda stepped forward, feeling her heart race at the sight of the massive aliens. She had not expected these beings called "Luminoth" to be human, but she had not expected them to be quite so different either. With the exception of the creepy toads, most creatures they had encountered in their journeys had looked human or like some kind of recognizable animal.

"This is Princess Zelda of Hyrule," Samus continued. "She and I have been on a mission. The Space Pirates, who I know you're familiar with, have gotten it into their vapor-brained heads to go after these artifacts called the Seven Wonders. Zelda and I, with the help of an electrical rodent called Pikachu, have been trying to hunt down these treasures before Ridley and the rest of them can."

The head Luminoth just nodded silently as he listened to Samus's story.

"Unfortunately, we recently met with some bad luck, and now at least one of these seven artifacts is in the hands of Ridley and this dark wizard guy called Ganondorf who had been in some temple living under a sword for the past seventeen years."

The Luminoth's feather ears twitched. "You mean like in a form of stasis? As the rest of my brethren were during the end of the decades long war with the Ing?"

Samus shook her head. "That was a voluntary stasis for their protection. Ganondorf was sealed away by Zelda and this guy named Link. Apparently the three of them together have triangles inside of them and when you put them together it makes some kind of bigger triangle with more magic."

"Triangle magic? Fascinating." The Luminoth seemed genuinely interested as he continued in his surreal voice that sounded almost like singing. "So Princess Zelda, the man called Link, and the wizard Ganondorf are the vessels of the Triforce?"

Zelda's eyes widened at the Luminoth's mention of the Triforce. There was no way he could know about that, but somehow he did. This had been the last place she had been expecting anyone to know anything about the Triforce or the Wonders, but she found herself getting hopeful they may have accidently stumbled into some sort of lead.

"How do you know about the Triforce?" Zelda demanded, a bit more abruptly than she meant to. She resisted the urge to take a step back as the moth's blind-looking pink eyes turned to her.

"I apologize for my lack of manners," he said as he addressed the princess. "I am U-Mos, Sentinel of the Luminoth."

"They're a very old species," Samus added. "They knew the Chozo and the two groups swapped information and technology from time to time."

"That is correct," U-Mos continued. "The Chozo knew of the Triforce and understood the Seven Wonders quite well. They were the ones who scattered them across the galaxy, after all."

Zelda felt her jaw drop as she stared at the Luminoth Sentinel, and she knew Samus's must have done the same.

"Why do you seem so surprised, Savior?" U-Mos said as he turned to Samus, whose expression was completely hidden by her helmet. "You must have realized how like them it was to take powerful ancient artifacts and hide them throughout the galaxy. That's basically what the Chozo did with everything."

Samus remained frozen and as blank as a robot, and Zelda could only guess she was trying to think of how to respond."

"Why would they do that?" the bounty hunter asked after a minute. "And why not tell me or leave some kind of map?"

U-Mos blinked a couple of times. "I'm sorry. I assumed they did tell you and that was why you were on this mission."

Samus shook her head. "No… I just found out because I was hunting the Space Pirates…"

"So then… you really don't know?" U-Mos just stared down at her. "Never mind that for now. More urgent things come first. You said you are not well."

Raising her hand up, Samus pulled off her helmet and the suit dissolved around her in a flash of light. The hunter stood before the Luminoth in nothing but the royal blue workout tank and shorts and their matching boots. She looked exhausted, and it was easy to see dark vein-like lines running up her back and abdomen beyond the heavy bandaging of her midriff.

"It appears I've been infected by some kind of darkness," she said. "I was hoping… perhaps, the Light of Aether might be able to rid me of it or help me fend it off just long enough to finish this mission."

The great moth looked her over curiously, and Zelda realized he had definitely never seen her under her power suit before. As he crouched down beside the hunter, Samus looked so tiny in comparison. From the way he had addressed her as their Savior, Zelda wondered how he felt seeing her looking so soft and vulnerable without the armor, particularly injured as she was.

He raised a feathery digit and gently touched the hunter's shoulder. She didn't flinch, but Zelda could tell her posture was even more stiff than usual as the Luminoth inspected her.

"This is quite serious," U-Mos said as he took a step back and turned to his brethren. He said something in their language that sounded like he was giving them commands, and the other two Luminoth bowed to him before turning to Samus. "Savior, you should go with R-Tyu and Q-Wer. Our anatomies may be different, but they can still take you to our healers and so we may assess what we need to do."

Samus just nodded and turned to Zelda. "I'll be back, okay?"

"I'm coming with you," Zelda replied. "I'm not letting you go through this alone."

"Actually," U-Mos said, looking at the princess, "I would like to speak to you, Bearer of the Triforce. Our Savior will be safe in the hands of our healers, but you and I have much to discuss regarding the Wonders."

"I'm not leaving, Samus," Zelda insisted. The thought of being alone with the giant bug-being made her hair stand on end, but the thought of leaving Samus was even worse, especially seeing how far the darkness had progressed in such a short period of time.

"It's okay," Samus said, suddenly holding up a hand and stopping the princess from trying to follow her. "You stay here with U-Mos. Get information. We still have to complete this mission. Protecting Hyrule and the rest of the planets is still our first priority, and I need you here taking care of that because I won't be able to do anything while I'm undergoing treatment."

Zelda wanted to ask what kind of treatment Samus thought they were going to give her, but she realized she wasn't sure she wanted to know or if she would even understand if Samus explained it. But she knew the hunter was right; one of them had to keep working on this mission, and this was every bit as much her mission as it was Samus's. Perhaps even more so considering the duty she owed to Hyrule.

"All right," the princess replied after a minute, but she strode up to Samus and put a hand over the bounty hunter's heart as she stood up on her tiptoes and gave her a deep kiss. "I'll be waiting, and I'll take care of this. You worry about getting well."

Samus smiled and ran a hand through Zelda's hair before gently kissing her on the forehead. "I'll be all right."

As the two Luminoth and the bounty hunter walked off, Zelda felt an indescribable sense of dread settling into her stomach. Dozens of thoughts raced through her mind, but above all, she found herself terrified that she was never going to see Samus again. As soon as the others were out of earshot and it was just her and the Luminoth Sentinel, Zelda took a step toward him and stared up at his feathery face.

"They can't do anything to help her, can they?" she asked, already knowing what the answer would be. "Maybe they'll give her something to help with the pain, but your healers can't fix dark magic, especially not once it's spread that far."

U-Mos just looked at her. He made a strange sound that almost seemed like the moth-person equivalent of a sigh. "I didn't know our Savior had chosen a mate, but there must be something truly unique about you for her to abandon the biological necessity of a male for species propagation."

Zelda almost opened her mouth to explain to him that wasn't how Samus's orientation worked, but she decided against it. For all she knew, the Luminoth might not have had multiple sexes at all or may have had more than two, and whatever the case was, they probably laid eggs anyway.

"You didn't answer my question," she said instead. "They can't save Samus."

"You state that as a declaration, not a question. Either way, you are correct. The healers can make sure she's comfortable and that she has proper care as the condition progresses. And of course, someone to grant her mercy once it reaches that point."

A chill ran up Zelda's spine, and she felt her whole body go limp. She thought she might fall over, but she stayed standing, watching the Luminoth. "So we came here for nothing? Your light of Aether can't do anything to fight the darkness growing inside of her? Inside the woman you refer to as your Savior? You're just going to let her get sicker and then put her down like a farm animal when there's nothing left to do?"

The Luminoth tilted his head. "I said we couldn't save her, not that she couldn't be saved. Are you not a Bearer of the Triforce?"

Zelda stepped closer to the Luminoth as she glared up at him and felt rage suddenly coursing through her body. "Don't you think I've tried everything? I've dealt with Ganon's dark energy before! I've dealt with his Malice! I know how to heal people! But for whatever reason, Samus can't be healed! I don't know why her body reacts like it does, but I just can't heal her!"

"Then perhaps it wasn't the dark energy of this 'Ganon' that infected her."

Rarely one to lose her temper, Zelda clenched her fists as she felt her own magic radiating from them, trying to restrain herself from casting Din's fire right into the moth's face. "Dammit, you stupid bug! I _saw_ him cast the dark magic that hit Samus! It was supposed to hit me but she jumped in front of it like an idiot and protected me!"

U-Mos's ear feathers twitched, but his face was otherwise as blank as it had been this whole time. "I have no doubt you saw him cast the magic. But was it his own magic? You said you've healed people before and you're familiar with his energy. But you think the problem is the Savior's body being unresponsive to your attempts. I very much doubt that's the issue. Tell me, Bearer of the Triforce, which of the Seven Wonders have you collected?"

Zelda bit her tongue to hold back from spitting venom at him for trying to change the subject. "Why do you want to know?"

"It's a simple question that can't hurt the situation. It may even illuminate some things. Which of the Wonders are accounted for?"

She sighed. She obviously wasn't getting anywhere with him in regard to Samus. She doubted anyone from this planet would even know how Hylian magic worked. "We have the Wonders of Light, Forest, and Water. And of course, my Triforce. Ganon and Ridley got the Wonder of Fire. That was the battle where they defeated Samus and she sustained the wounds she has now."

U-Mos nodded. "So then the Wonders of Shadow and Spirit are unaccounted for?"

"Correct. Although with as long as we've been down, it's possible Ganon and Ridley got to them already."

Again the moth nodded. "May I suggest an alternative scenario?"

"Why ask? You're going to do it regardless of what I say."

"Perhaps Ridley and Ganon did not obtain the other Wonders _after_ our Savior was struck down in battle. Perhaps the reason you cannot heal our Savior is that it is not Ganon's magic alone. If they had previously acquired the Wonder of Shadow, they could have used its power to enhance their own."

Zelda blinked a couple of times as she stared up at the Luminoth. The rage that had built up in her was quickly giving way to confusion. "They can do that?"

It was U-Mos's turn to stare in confusion. "You have four of the Wonders and didn't know of their powers?"

Zelda slowly shook her head. "I guess I… just assumed you had to combine all seven of them and then… something would happen?"

The sighing sound came once more from the moth. "You really haven't encountered anyone who understands these things? It's no wonder our Savior was defeated in battle. Neither of you thought to utilize any of the powers at your disposal. Neither of you knew what they were. And if I know our Savior… she probably didn't let you lift a finger in battle."

"We've had the Wonders all this time," Zelda said. "The only thing we've seen them do is show us a hologram… but you know about the Wonders. And when I listed to you the ones we had, you knew which ones were missing. And that would mean we were right and the Triforce is one of the Wonders."

U-Mos nodded. "The most important of the Wonders. Only those who bear the Triforce can activate the powers of the other six. If my theory is correct, Ganon used the Wonder of Shadow to enhance his own strength and presumably Ridley's as well. But you did nothing to enhance the Savior's or your own power."

Zelda's first response was to get defensive because it sounded like the alien was blaming her for Samus getting hurt, but she wasn't sure that was his intention. From what she could tell just by having been around Samus as long as she had, species in this part of the galaxy were not necessarily in tuned to things of that nature and tended to be much more likely to lay out the facts in a detached manner.

"I didn't use any of the Wonders," Zelda replied. "I just didn't know I could…"

U-Mos nodded. "And now you do know. And you know why your powers alone were inadequate for healing Samus. So you know what you must do."

Zelda was silent for a while, but then she nodded once she thought it over. "I need to get back to the ship."

"By all means." U-Mos gestured toward the entrance through which she had entered the temple. "We both want to see the Savior recover. I'm only glad I was able to be of help in providing you with the information you needed."

"Thank you, U-Mos," Zelda said before turning and hurrying out of the temple. She knew there wasn't any reason to run, but she couldn't help herself as she raced back toward the ship. She knew what she had to do. There was hope. And there was a chance she could heal Samus.

Ignoring the crumbling and desolate landscape of the eerie planet, Zelda made it back to the ship more quickly than she had realized was possible on foot, and once she got there, she summoned Farore's Wind and entered the ship.

Pikachu jumped about five feet off of the couch and into the air as she suddenly appeared in a burst of wind and green light. Without wasting any time, the princess ran over to their containment tank and snatched the yellow Wonder of Light before the very confused Pokémon even knew what was happening. And then she was gone with another burst of green light and lingering whirlwind.

Wonder of Light in tow, Zelda pressed it tight against her chest as she ran back to the temple. She didn't even take the time to acknowledge U-Mos as she ran past him and down the corridor through which she had seen Samus and the other Luminoth exit.

It didn't take her long to find the makeshift infirmary, a tiny room as dingy and dull as the rest of the planet. The were a couple of Luminoth standing around who she presumed were the healers, and there were a couple more in strange devices that looked almost like cocoons. But Zelda ignored them. There was a crude bed against the far wall, and she ran toward it, feeling her powers pulsating in the palms of her hands.

She could see Samus laying on the bed as a couple of the Luminoth stood over her. There were wires attached to some kind of sensors on the bounty hunter's body, and they had removed the bandages, presumably to get a look at the black wounds. Samus herself was neither fully asleep nor fully awake as she stared up at Zelda with languid disinterest. However, the princess felt relief wash over her when she realized that whatever they had given Samus must have eased whatever pain she was in. She actually had a peaceful look on her face and looked like she was truly getting some rest.

Zelda sat down beside her on the bed and removed her gloves, running her bare hand over Samus's forehead and down the side of her face. Her skin was hot. That couldn't have been a good sign. Suppressing her panic, Zelda tried to focus.

She held the Wonder of Light with both hands and closed her eyes, focusing her energy on looking "inside" of the Wonder with her mind's eye. At first it registered to her as nothing more than the mere glass ball it had felt like since she first saw it, but as she dove deeper, she began to feel its energy pulsating deep in its core, something she had never felt before.

 _If Ganon can make this work,_ she thought to herself as she took a deep breath, _then so can I. I will make it work, and I will save Samus._

It was like an eruption of magical energy all of a sudden as she felt the very core of the sphere. She could feel it pouring out of the orb and rushing into her as every part of her body suddenly became electrified, the greatest concentration of power centering in her bare hands. It was a rush unlike any she had felt before.

As she opened her eyes, everything suddenly became clear to her, and somehow she could still see the energies with a vision that was normally restricted to her mind's eye. She saw Samus. She could see the life energy inside of Samus, and she could see it succumbing to the dark infection that had spread over far more of her body than the visible signs had suggested.

Without hesitation, Zelda reached down and effortlessly pulled the limp bounty hunter into her arms. Samus was clearly awake on some level but was far too drowsy to respond as Zelda wrapped her arms around her and firmly pressed her palms into the black craters on the hunter's back.

Without warning, the power began to flow from her naturally, and she could see it filling Samus's body and overwhelming the darkness. It was unlike any attempt she had made at healing her before. It took no energy at all, and barely five minutes had passed before Light energy overthrew the Shadow and the Malice completely. As Zelda moved her palms off of where the wounds had once been, she could no long see any trace of dark energy within Samus's body. And as the vision of the energies faded from her sight, she saw Samus's physical body no longer bore any signs that she had been injured at all. Even the swelling from her injured arm seemed healed by the princess's magic combined with the raw power of the Wonder.

Slowly, Zelda pulled back to look at Samus, and while it still seemed like the hunter's mind was a little foggy, she was looking back at Zelda fully aware of what had just happened. Samus was breathing heavily as Zelda reached up and wiped some sweat and matted blonde hair from the hunter's face.

Samus looked like she wanted to say something, but whatever the Luminoth had given her to help with her pain must have been very powerful because she ended up not saying anything and instead falling limp onto Zelda, her face landing on the princess's chest. Zelda was still for a moment, holding Samus close and taking some time to rest her cheek on the hunter's head as she closed her eyes and calmed her own breathing.

Samus was alive. Samus was alive, and she had healed her. Even if she was exhausted and needed to rest until the medication wore off, Samus was safe, and Ganon wouldn't be taking her from Zelda anytime soon.

Gently, the princess placed a kiss on top of the hunter's head before laying her back down in the bed. She tucked her in as best she could, realizing that Samus had actually fallen asleep somewhere between collapsing on Zelda and the princess laying her back down. That was good. She needed the rest.

Zelda, on the other hand, didn't. She could still feel the energy surge she had gotten from activating the power of the Wonder of Light, and she could see everything much more clearly now that her worries about Samus weren't clogging up her mind.

U-Mos knew about the Wonders, and he would be a valuable resource. But more importantly, she now possessed three Wonders in addition to her piece of the Triforce, and she was determined to learn how to use them all to bring down Ganondorf once and for all.


	21. Ch 21: Can't Wait

**Chapter 21: Can't Wait**

A plate of some kind of amorphous gray mass that vaguely resembled food sat in front of Samus as she restlessly pushed it around with her fork-like utensil. She was sitting next to Zelda at some kind of table made out of that metallic-stone material that seemed to dominate the Luminoths' structures throughout Aether. The moth aliens looked on as Samus played with the strange food, wondering how long it would take for them to give in and stop insisting she eat it.

"So let me get this straight," the bounty hunter said, hugging the soft gray cloak tightly around her shoulders. She had been cold upon waking up in the infirmary, and they had given her the warm garment to make up for the fact that all she had on was the two-piece workout set. "Zelda couldn't heal me because Ganon used the Wonder of Shadow to amplify his own power? But you guys showed her how to use the Wonder of Light to counteract that?"

U-Mos nodded as he looked down at the mostly-human woman. "That is correct. The Wonders are not simply useful as a set, but each has its own unique ability, and they can only be utilized by those who hold a fragment of the Seventh Wonder, or those magic triangles as you've referred to them."

Samus raised her eyebrows and pushed around the weird food on her plate a little more, earning her a disapproving look from Zelda. "So it wasn't the light of Aether. That yellow ball did it. I guess the water one does something with water and the forest one… what the hell kind of magic do you do with a forest ball?"

U-Mos made a sound like sighing and pressed one of his feathery digits to the place where the bridge of his nose would have been. "Unfortunately, I don't have all of the answers. As I was saying earlier, these were creations of the Chozo… because apparently they thought this was a good idea. For some reason."

"I take it you don't agree with that decision?"

"The Chozo were… a complicated people. They certainly had some very roundabout ways of doing things, and often pushed the limits of their own control a little too far. I suppose that's why they had a tendency to seal away and hide the things they could no longer control and lacked the power to destroy, like SR-388 for example."

"SR-388?" The name sounded familiar, but Samus could not remember the context in which she had heard of it. After so many years, certain aspects of her time with the Chozo were vague memories, particularly the sorts of experiments they conducted away from Zebes. The details had never been relevant to her during the years of her training, so she had never bothered to learn them.

U-Mos brushed away her question with a wave of his hand-like appendage. "Not relevant. What matters now is that your wounds have been healed and Zelda has learned how to unlock the powers within the Wonders."

Samus nodded, poking the food again, determined not to have to taste it.

"It would help, Savior," U-Mos said as he stared at her playing with the food, "if you actually ate the nourishment we formulated for you so you can fully regain your strength and head back out to continue your fight."

"Eh… I've got stuff on my ship," the bounty hunter tried to protest, but all it earned her was an angry look from Zelda.

"Look, you," the princess began, her tone a touch harsher and more confident than usual, "I just brought you back from near death. We traveled across a galaxy to get here, and you've had dark magic coursing through your veins for nearly two weeks. Your injuries might be all healed up, but dammit, Samus, eat something other than those freeze-dried garbage bricks you call food. U-Mos and the Luminoth prepared this specifically for _you_ , for your body and genetic make-up. Of all things, now is not the time to be a picky eater."

Samus frowned and made a small growling noise under her breath, but she relented. It didn't matter to her that all of the Luminoth were staring her down, waiting for her to take a bite of the gray blobs, but Zelda was another story. Slowly, she looked down, scooped some of the weird almost-gelatinous substance onto her utensil, and took just a small enough bite of it that she could taste it and feel its bizarre text in her mouth. Swallowing it was not a pleasant ordeal, but it wasn't as bad as she had expected it to be.

"That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Zelda asked, and Samus made a face like she had just sucked on a lemon. "Now you're just being dramatic…"

"Do you want to try some?" Samus held the plate out toward Zelda and the princess rolled her eyes.

"Give me that," she said, snatching the utensil away from Samus and helping herself to a spork-ful of the goo. As she swallowed it, she shrugged. "Honestly an improvement over those MRE things you made me eat."

Samus made a face and grudgingly took the spork-looking thing back from Zelda as she proceeded to begin eating the nutrient-rich mass that was neither quite a liquid nor a solid. She shoveled it down and didn't look up until she was finished, only to flash Zelda a miserable look as the princess grinned.

"Don't you feel better now?" she asked.

"My internal organs are filled with gray blobs. I don't know how I feel about this."

Though she wouldn't admit it aloud, Samus actually did feel better. It was like a layer of fatigue just dissolved even though she hadn't realized she had been carrying it. In fact, she felt better than she had since before the ill-fated battle where they had lost the Wonder of Fire.

"Back to business though," Samus said before Zelda could say anything else. "The Wonders. We've got like… three or four of them. Forest, Water, Light, and your triangle plus Link's triangle. We know Ridley and Ganon have Fire and Shadow plus his triangle. That only leaves one more, and we've been down so long I'm sure they've found it by now."

"Respectfully, Savior," U-Mos began as the bounty hunter and princess both looked over to him, "I wouldn't jump to that conclusion just yet."

"Oh?" Samus raised an eyebrow as U-Mos raised his long feathery arms above his head.

"The Chozo were an unusual people," he continued as an orb of light began to form in his outstretched hands. Light from the rest of the area around them seemed drawn into the center of it, and the two women stared on in amazement. "But they were also good close allies of the Luminoth." He cupped his hands together as the light faded, and as he lowered them, he held them out to Samus, revealing a small orange sphere in his feathery palms. "They left us a few gifts before they departed."

Samus's eyes widened as she looked up from U-Mos's outstretched hands and then back down at the orange orb. Amazed by how he had seemed to conjure it out of thin air, Samus slowly reached out and took the Wonder of Spirit.

"It was here this whole time?" she asked, and the Luminoth Sentinel nodded, placing one hand over her heart and bowing.

"I wanted to wait until you were well before I revealed it. I wished only to aid you on this quest, so please forgive me for not giving this to you when you arrived, but you were gravely injured, and I knew you would be incapacitated for quite some time."

Samus just nodded, staring down at the Wonder. "Thank you."

"Yes," Zelda added. "Thank you, U-Mos, for everything you've done. We are so grateful for such generosity from the Luminoth."

U-Mos just held up his hand and brushed away her sentiments. "It was the very least we could do. There is a reason we refer to our Savior as we do, and it's because she single-handedly fought and ended a cycles-long war and saved all of our lives in the process. We can never truly repay her courage and her service, but we are thankful for the opportunity to be of what little help we can."

Zelda glanced over to Samus with a look of pride and something like adoration, and the hunter could feel her face getting red as she looked away.

"That's Samus," Zelda said, practically beaming as Samus could still feel the princess's eyes on her. "She's a hero. A true hero."

"Stop it," Samus muttered under her breath as she finally looked back over to Zelda. "I'm a mercenary. Link is a hero. He did that whole ocarina of time and magical sword thing. I just do the missions I'm assigned."

"No one at your Federation," U-Mos began in an almost-smug tone, "assigned you to save our dying world and restore the Light of Aether. And no one compensated you for that. You may not wield the Triforce of Courage, Savior, but there is more than one way to be a hero."

Samus could feel her face getting red as she averted her eyes, but then she felt Zelda's hand on hers and looked over to see the princess just about glowing as she looked at the hunter. Samus wasn't sure what to say, but something about the other woman's smile and her soft touch made her want to throw her arms around her and vow never to fail to protect her again as she had in the battle against Ganon. She felt it again, that feeling welling up inside of her and threatening to explode, and she knew she was hopelessly in love with the Hylian princess. And it terrified her.

It took her a moment to tear herself away from Zelda's bright blue eyes as she looked back down at the Wonder of Spirit and tried to gather her thoughts. With a few deep breaths, she was able to compose herself as she finally turned to Zelda again.

"I guess there isn't anything else we need to do here," she said, getting a sudden sinking feeling in her stomach. "We just have to figure out where to go next."

"At this point," Zelda replied, completing oblivious to Samus's growing sense of dread, "I think it would make the most sense to head back to Hyrule. We could meet up with Link, and then we'd have four of the Wonders plus two fragments of the Triforce. I think we'll stand a better chance against Ganon now that we know what we're doing."

Samus just nodded. She knew it would come to this. She'd bring Zelda back to Hyrule, and just like that, the little bubble they'd been in for the past few days would burst. They would fight the final battle somehow, and assuming they survived, Zelda would go back to her station as Hyrule royalty and Samus would return to her job as a mercenary.

"Oh! Before I forget," Zelda said with a grin, snapping Samus out of her brooding. The hylian jumped up and pulled Samus to her feet as well. It was a strange sight given how the hunter towered over her.

From a brown leather satchel on her belt, Zelda pulled out the yellow orb that was the Wonder of Light once more and held it out to Samus. The bounty hunter just stared at it.

"Ganon augmented Ridley's power using the Wonder of Shadow," Zelda said. "If you'll let me, I want to augment yours using the Wonder of Light."

A thought occurred to Samus, and she looked over to U-Mos.

He nodded. "It will work exactly how you are imagining it will, Savior. And yes, it will draw from the Light of Aether, but we will be all right."

Samus just nodded to the Luminoth Sentinel before turning back to Zelda. "So what do you need me to do?"

The orb began to glow as it floated between Zelda's palms, and slowly the princess pulled one hand away and pressed it up against Samus's heart. The hunter could feel the light energy rushing through her, and it made her adrenaline spike.

"Just activate your power suit," Zelda said, "and let me share with it my power."

Samus closed her eyes and pressed her left palm against Zelda's hand on her chest. As she drew the power of the Wonder into herself, she activated the power suit, and once more her body was enveloped in light. Only this time, it was different.

The light and energy swirling around her were not just her own. Zelda's light was there too. She could feel it along with the energies of the Light of Aether, just as she had the last time she had been to this planet.

As the armor formed around her, she knew exactly what had happened before she even opened her eyes. Still, it was an unbelievable feeling to see her body once more encased in the Light Suit, the suit the Luminoth had allowed her to borrow to defeat Dark Samus and destroy Dark Aether.

The princess's eyes widened in awe as Samus stood before her clad head to toe in the white armor. Samus could tell she had not been expecting such a drastic change in the hunter's physical appearance. It was less bulky than the Varia suit, and though its design was very different, the structure was similar. Her cannon still looked roughly the same, but her face was much more visible though the pale visor, and light shone from four points in her chest.

"How do I look?" Samus asked, unable to keep a straight face at the princess's look of absolute wonder.

"You look… _beautiful,_ Samus." Zelda's breathing was calm but heavy as she looked through the white visor to Samus's striking blue eyes. "You look like a goddess."

"A goddess? Is this what your goddesses look like?"

Zelda just shook her head, her cheeks pink as she tried to hold back laughter. "No… no. I guess I just thought… I don't know what I thought. You don't necessarily look like any of our goddesses but… if there were a goddess from your world, from this part of the universe, well… it's you, Samus."

Samus smiled as she reached out her armored hand and touched Zelda's cheek. The princess closed her eyes and savored the touch, and once more Samus was overcome by her need to protect and cherish this woman who she had known for such a short time but who had somehow managed to make it past all of the barriers she had put up.

She could feel the words on her tongue but couldn't bring herself to say them again. Not here. Not in front of U-Mos and the Luminoth. She needed to be with Zelda and could feel the white hot warmth searing her skin wherever the princess touched, even in spite of the armor. She wanted her, and she needed her. She needed to hold her once again, finally well enough to carry her, and that was what she intended to do.

"U-Mos," Samus said, turning to the Luminoth sentinel but still acutely aware of Zelda's cheek in her palm. "Thank you. For everything."

The Luminoth placed his hand over his heart and bowed once more. "Go, Savior. Go slay the evil and save the galaxy."

Samus grinned before she turned down to look at Zelda. The princess had both of her palms pressed against Samus's chest at this point, eagerly looking up at her as if she expected to be lifted off the ground.

But Samus had other plans, and as she deactivated her suit, Zelda looked confused for a moment until the bounty hunted scooped the princess up into her arms and held her bridal-style. It felt better to feel the princess's soft skin pressed up against her own without the armor in the way.

"Let's go back to the ship," she said, and Zelda kissed her cheek as Samus turned and left the Luminoth structure.

She carried her all the way back to her ship, Zelda's arms wrapped snuggly around her neck the whole time as they made their way back. And when it was finally time to leap up to the top of the ship, Samus easily made it in one bound. It felt like Zelda weighed nothing at all, and even once they were on the lift down into the ship, Samus still held the princess in her arms. She wasn't willing to let her go, not this time.

And as she carried Zelda into the ship's living quarter's Pikachu looked up at them from where he had been snoozing on the couch. Samus just gave him a quick nod toward the cockpit.

"Hyrule," she said.

"Pika pika?" the Pokémon asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"Hyrule," Samus repeated, once again nodding for him to head into the cockpit. "The coordinates are already in the system. Just punch it in and hit autopilot."

"Pi-pikachu!"

Samus rolled her eyes. "Make yourself useful for once instead of sleeping all day, you lazy cat."

Pikachu made a grumbling sound deep in his throat, but he stood up and jumped off the couch and did as he was told. As he disappeared off into the cockpit, Samus looked down at Zelda once more.

"Now then?" she asked the princess and was answered with a deep passionate kiss. Samus's skin felt feverish as she opened the hatch to the bedroom and carried Zelda inside, laying the princess across the narrow bed where they had spent many a night in each other's arms.

Zelda made the first move as she grabbed Samus's shoulders, pulling her down onto the bed beside her. Their lips met passionately and Samus savored the taste of her lover as she leaned over her, supporting herself with one arm and caressing her lover's hair and neck with the other. It felt so natural and so right. Samus audibly gasped as Zelda kissed her neck, and the hunter nearly lost her balance as the princess's lingering lips made her arms suddenly feel like jelly.

Zelda laughed and seized the moment to playfully push Samus over onto her side. She smirked as the hunter flopped onto her back, completely surprised by the sudden turn of events as Zelda lowered herself over the hunter. Her slender fingers trailed down Samus's muscular neck and shoulders, raising goosebumps all over the hunter's skin as Zelda's lips met hers once more.

But the kiss was merely a tease as Zelda pulled away from Samus's mouth and began to kiss down her chin and onto her neck. Her fingers deftly worked their magic as she caressed her lover's shoulders with one hand and her exposed abdomen with the other. Samus shuddered as Zelda kissed down her neck, and as the princess reached the most sensitive spot, the hunter let out a whimper.

"Too much?" Zelda asked, backing off slightly but keeping contact on Samus with each hand.

"Mmm?" Samus moaned slightly, her head still foggy from the sensations. "I- I guess I wasn't expecting that."

Zelda smirked playfully as she traced a line with her finger down Samus's neck and top. "What were you expecting then?"

"I don't know," Samus said, suddenly feeling anxious and actually recoiling at her lover's touch. She knew it was only Zelda, but having someone leaning over her like that made Samus's skin turn clammy. She could feel her adrenaline spiking again as it suddenly became hard to think straight. "I know you said you haven't done this kind of thing before and—"

"And what?" Zelda asked, realizing something was wrong and backing off of Samus as the hunter sat up. "I know it's my first time, but were you expecting me to lay there like some kind of useless doll?"

"I-I don't know." Samus pulled back farther, and she could feel her body tensing up. It was getting difficult to focus.

"You don't know? Samus? Haven't you learned anything since our fight with Ganon? I healed you! I activated the Wonders! I gave you that white armor! I'm not useless!"

"What? What does that have to do with anything?"

"I mean you have to stop treating me like some passive, helpless little thing! Whether we're in battle or on some planet or here in bed doing… whatever this is we were doing!"

Samus pressed a palm to her forehead and closed her eyes, trying to slow her breathing before it could get too fast. "That's not… that's not what happened."

"Then what did happen?"

"I don't know!" Samus lowered her hand and just stared at Zelda. "I don't know what happened. I just know I wasn't expecting you to throw me over like that and be over me and touching my throat and…" She paused, not sure what to say. "I'm sorry I just… I don't know. It just freaked me out."

Zelda's posture relaxed as she looked at Samus. It looked like something suddenly clicked in the princess's brain. "You don't like having your neck touched."

"Not usually, no." Samus put a hand around her neck, feeling the high collar of the workout top. "But I thought in this context it would be different and…" She shook her head. "I just don't know, Zelda. I know I keep saying that, but I really don't know. Usually I'm with you, and I'm fine, better than normal. But other times I just… it's like I'm with you, and you're close to me, but suddenly I just get cold and feel like I'm standing far away and just watching."

"Even though you can feel me touching you?"

Samus nodded. It felt like such a shameful thing to admit, that her brain constantly felt the need to sabotage what should have been happy moments and she couldn't overcome it. "I'm sorry, Zelda."

"Don't be. It… actually explains a few things."

"It does?"

Zelda nodded. "May I come closer?"

"Of course." Samus scooted over to the side so she and Zelda would both have room to sit against the wall without touching each other.

"It explains a lot, actually," Zelda continued. "There have been a few times now where we've been hugging and I've felt you just randomly tense up. I thought… maybe you just weren't attracted to me as much as I thought you were."

"No…" Samus shook her head. "No, it's not that at all. Look, if you want to try again, I'm feeling better now. We can try again and I'll try harder this time—"

"Try what?" Zelda's face was soft, but she looked almost sad as she stared at Samus. "You want us to act like there's an end goal in mind? Samus I love kissing you, but I don't want us to have to 'try,' especially not our first time together. I want it to feel natural, and I want you to be comfortable and… well, honestly I was pretty nervous myself."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better about freaking out."

Zelda rolled her eyes. "I'm a _virgin_ , Samus. Up until I met you, I didn't even know I could be attracted to a woman, much less what two women are supposed to do together. I… I'm still not even really sure what two women do together. I've read novels of course, but not with… you know, two women."

Samus smirked and failed to hold back a laugh. "Well, I can tell you it's not normally like this."

"That much I figured out on my own."

"But seriously though, that's actually something I'm pretty well versed in."

"I know," Zelda said, scooting closer to Samus and leaning her head into her chest as the hunter wrapped her arms around her. "So yeah, of course I was nervous."

Samus ran a hand through Zelda's hair, and soon the princess was all but purring as she lay on the hunter's chest.

"This is pretty nice," Samus said after a while.

"It is."

"You don't feel nervous right now, do you?"

Zelda shook her head. "And you're not zoning out?"

"Nope. I'm right here."

"Then that's all that matters," Zelda said, nuzzling deeper into Samus's chest. "I don't care what we're doing. I love you, Samus, and I just want to be with you."

Samus closed her eyes, leaning back against the wall as she let Zelda's words wash over her. They terrified her, and she felt that cold feeling returning, but she focused on matching the princess's soft breathing and eventually that feeling came to pass. She was still there, sitting on her bed and holding the most important person to her in the entire galaxy.

"I love you, too, Zelda."


	22. Ch 22: Emmiline

**Author's Note:** Hi everyone! Sorry I've been taking longer between updates. I've just had a lot going on IRL. I have no intention of abandoning this story, especially not so close to the end.

I've been doing a lot more drawing than writing lately, and it's mostly on my tumblr and EeveeNicks Deviantart. I want to try doing Samus and Zelda eventually. Mostly I've just been drawing Samus.

Anyway, thanks so much to those of you who continue to read and review. Curious to see how many people know why I chose the name for the OC in this chapter. ;)

Anyway, Enjoy!

 **Chapter 22: Emmiline**

Hyrule. Zelda had always taken for granted that she would never set foot outside of the kingdom for as long as she lived, but now she found herself accompanied by beings from other worlds and on a spaceship descending back into its atmosphere. So much had happened in such a short period of time, and her brief Odyssey through space had been a whirlwind emotions and new experiences. It almost felt wrong stepping back onto her homeplanet and into Hyrule.

As always, Samus was a perfect gentleman and swept the princess off of her feet, holding her bridal-style as they descended from the ship. Pikachu rode on the bounty hunter's shoulder, and the less-bulky armor of the Light Suit made the Pokémon's perch look a bit more comfortable.

As Samus set Zelda down on her feet, the princess marveled once again at the way the armor positively radiated light and strength while at the same time managing to capture the ever so subtle femininity of the woman beneath. It helped that Samus's face was so much clearer through the white visor that Zelda could even make out the bright blue of her eyes. Luminoth technology or not, the Light Suit seemed like it had been made specifically for Samus, but more importantly, Zelda knew it would protect the hunter from Ganon's darkness. With both of their powers combined with those of the Wonder, she knew there was no way Samus would be struck down by his Malice again.

"My scans aren't picking up any abnormal biosigns," Samus said as she looked around where they had landed in Hyrule Field. It was not far from where they had first met during the battle with Ridley. "I guess we should just head straight for the castle then.

Zelda nodded. She knew her father would be happy to see her alive and well. It would be quite a relief for Link too. She knew the hero had spent the entire time she was gone worrying about her. He had made his distrust for Samus extremely clear, but she had a feeling he'd lighten up now that the bounty hunter had proven herself to be an invaluable ally.

"Would you like me to carry you?" Samus asked. "It's a long walk to Castle Town from here, and I know those shoes can't be too comfortable in the grass."

Zelda's foot shifted in the high-heeled shoe, but she shook her head. "I'll be all right, Samus. Better they see me walking toward them then you carrying my body. Link can be a bit of a worrywart when it comes to me and anything he isn't comfortable with. The last thing we need is for him to think I was injured and can't walk."

Samus just nodded as she turned and began to walk across the field toward Castle Town, Pikachu still perched comfortably on her shoulder. Zelda walked beside her and to the hunter's left, thankful once more to have her partner recovered and well.

Most of the walk was silent as thoughts raced through Zelda's mind about being reunited with her father, Link, and the rest of the castle's occupants. It felt like a lifetime has passed since the last time she had seen them. Only one thing managed to knock her out of her mind. At some point while they were walking, Samus reached to hold Zelda's hand, but the princess reflexively recoiled and it gave her pause.

She looked up at Samus, but the bounty hunter's face was obscured by the helmet as she looked away from Zelda. The princess's empty hand balled into a fist as she realized Samus must not have taken that rejection well. Zelda wanted to say something but couldn't find the words to do so. On Aether and in the Mushroom Kingdom, she had had no problem walking hand in hand with Samus and even sleeping curled up in her arms. There was just something different about it now, something that made her hair stand on end as she imaged her father and the Royal Guard seeing her holding the armored woman's hand.

The thought made her feel sick. She knew she wasn't ashamed to be with Samus. Samus had her issues, but she was a loyal and kind woman, and Zelda loved her dearly. On the other hand, Zelda was now finding herself embarrassed at the thought of people on her homeworld finding out about their relationship. Two women together may have been as normal as anything else on some of the planets they had visited, but it certainly was not considered normal in Hyrule. Especially not for a member of the Royal Family and a foreign mercenary.

As they got closer to the castle, Samus looked down at Zelda, but the princess averted her eyes. This wasn't how she was supposed to feel walking into Castle Town for the first time ever with her chosen partner, and she felt ashamed of her own embarrassment. Samus had not done anything to deserve that kind of response.

Walking through Castle Town itself was an interesting experience as people practically tripped over themselves to back away from the figure in the white armor who towered over all of them. Although most people seemed primarily interested in getting away from Samus, there were a few who tried bowing and curtseying as Princess Zelda walked by. She waved back at them as she had been trained to do ever since she was a little girl. As strange as the current situation may have been, she was still their princess, and they were still her loyal subjects.

Getting through the main thoroughfares was draining and Zelda was looking forward to a break as they got beyond the town and reached the path to Hyrule Castle. What she had not been expecting, however, was the pair of figures she saw rushing toward them from the distance. Samus stopped and stiffened with Zelda pausing in the road beside her. Zelda recognized the first figure as Link coming to greet her, but she was shocked when she saw the other one.

"A Chozo," Samus said, a note of intrigue in her voice as she watched the hero and the tall bird person walking toward them.

"A Rito," Zelda corrected her as the princess stepped in front of the bounty hunter and took a good look at the bird woman coming forward. She was a slender creature with bright pink plumage and a narrow beak. It struck Zelda as odd, however, that she did not seem to be wearing any kind of Rito garments that Zelda recognized until the princess realized she was wearing the same sort of white robes with ancient markings that Samus had showed her in the book. It was ancient Chozo garb.

"Zelda!" Link called as he ran toward her. She couldn't help but grin as he threw his arms around her and lifted her up off the ground, spinning her through the air. "I can't believe you're back! Everyone's been so worried with you gone!"

Zelda laughed as he set her down and she smoothed her dress. "No reason to be so nervous. I had Samus with me the whole time, and she kept me safe."

Link hesitated as he looked up at Samus. He kept looking like he wanted to say something but then changing his mind until he finally settled on muttering a simple "Thanks."

Samus just nodded. She didn't seem to want to talk to him any more than he wanted to talk to her.

"What's going on here?" the Rito woman asked when at last she caught up with the little group's reunion. "Are these the ones you told me about? Princess Zelda and the weird knight?"

Looking like he had momentarily forgotten her presence, Link looked over and nodded at the Rito. "Yes. Sorry about that." He gestured to Zelda and Samus. "This is Princess Zelda and that armored person is called Samus Aran, although her armor was a different shape and color last time I saw her."

"We got her a bit of an upgrade," Zelda explained with a smile.

Nodding silently, Link then pointed to the Rito. "Zelda, this is Emmiline. She came to Castle Town all the way from the Rito Village. She knows all about the Seven Wonders."

The bird woman suddenly piqued Zelda's interest, and the princess was all too eager to pick her brain for any information she could get.

"I'm sort of my Village's local expert on Rito Lore," she said, briskly stepping in front of Link to stand face to face with Zelda. "So I know a bit more than the average bird and certainly more than any Hylian."

Zelda was a bit put off by the woman's tone, but she ignored it. It was too late in the game to turn away any potential information about the Wonders, especially given that Ridley and Ganon always seemed to be one step ahead in that sense.

"Please," the princess began gently, "do share with us what you know of the Wonders. It would be very helpful to me and to all of Hyrule."

"First off, where are they?" the Rito demanded. Her voice had a shrill note to it that, while fairly common in the avian species, Zelda found irritating.

"They're safe," Samus stated in her deep voice. "Your information first."

The Rito looked up at the hunter for the first time since their meeting. "So you _can_ talk. Imagine that. Here I was thinking you were little more than a Chozo warrior drone."

Zelda could feel Samus stiffen beside her, but other than that, the bounty hunter made no show of her irritation.

"Samus is more than capable of speech," Zelda said, realizing there was a defensiveness to her statement and hoping no one noticed. "She's a warrior, and a very intelligent one. And she's just as deeply involved in this matter as I am."

Emmiline's feathers fluffed. "Sorry, didn't mean to imply anything negative about your appointed knight. Years of being cloistered and studying lore didn't exactly give me much time to learn how to interact with visitors from space." She shook her head. "But whatever. The important thing right now is getting the Wonders into the Temple of Time before anyone else can come after them."

"Temple of Time?" Zelda asked. It made sense on some level given how each of the Seven Wonders coincided with one of the Seven Sages.

Emmiline nodded, her brilliant pink feathers still ruffling. "Yes, yes. You have the Seven Wonders. We take them into the Temple of Time. Boom. Then we get to the next part of the ritual." She looked Samus up and down once more. "I see you've already gotten the hang of using the Wonder of Light."

Zelda nodded, although she was still trying to process everything the Rito had said. "Yes… we needed it to counteract Ganon's use of the Wonder of Shadow. Although I personally think the new armor is a nice improvement as well."

Emmiline gave her a curious look, and Zelda suddenly found herself feeling hot under her collar and wondering if she had said too much.

"I get it," the Rito said, giving Zelda a smirk. "Knight in shining armor. I shoulda guessed that'd be your thing."

Link looked confused as he glanced between the princess and the Rito. "I'm confused."

"Forget it," Emmiline said, dismissing him with a wave of her hand. "Back to the Wonders. I take it you used the Light powers to get the Wonder of Shadow away from Ganon, as well as any others he was carrying?"

"Well, actually," Zelda began, her anxiety spiking at the thought that Ganon still possessed two of the Wonders.

"Ganon and Ridley have the Wonders of Fire and Shadow," Samus cut in. "We have Forest, Water, Light, and Spirit."

The Rito's eyes widened and her jaw seemed to drop as she stared at Samus in disbelief. "Ganon still has two of the Wonders? And you came back _here_ even though he knows you have the others? Are you trying to get us all killed?"

It was Zelda's turn to stiffen and shoot the Rito a nasty glare. "I think we did pretty well given the circumstances. It's not like we got the Wonders we have without any kind of fight." She conveniently left out the fact that Samus had bought the Wonder of Water from a scuzzy-looking bounty hunter in a dive bar. "We're here to protect Hyrule since we know he's coming back here eventually to try to get Link's Triforce if nothing else."

"And what do you figure?" Emmiline snapped, her hawk's eyes digging into Zelda. "That he and the dragon are just going to show up and you're going to use that armored warrior to take them out? And then just grab his Wonders and Triforce like it's nothing and use them to start the ritual?"

Zelda bit her tongue, wanting to say something nasty back but then realizing she was at a complete loss for words. Emmiline's eyes widened.

"You don't even know about the ritual, do you? You don't have any kind of plan? What have you and Samus Aran been doing in space this whole time?"

"Geez, Em," Link said, pinching the bridge of his nose before glaring at the Rito. "Will you shut up already? They came back with three more Wonders than they started out with and know where the other two are. I think they're doing pretty good considering the ones who were supposed to keep the Royal Family up to date on all of this stuff did a pretty miserable job of it."

Emmiline's face sunk and her feathers drooped as she looked at Link. "You know why that happened…"

"Exactly, but that doesn't matter now because you have a chance to help us make things right again instead of yelling at Zelda for not knowing something you never told her!"

Link didn't seem angry, but he was stern, and he was standing very firmly as he looked down at the Rito. Though he was normally a fairly laid back guy, there were a few things that really set the hero off, and Zelda knew that anyone insulting her was one of them. While his protectiveness had irritated her when he had met Samus, she was thankful for it now. After everything they'd been through, she had no patience to deal with Emmiline and her attitude, especially if she had been withholding information this whole time.

"I'm sorry, My Princess," the Rito said in a small voice, her eyes cast downward. "I'm sorry I failed in my responsibility to you and this kingdom." She glanced up at Samus. "And I'm sorry I failed our ancestors, the Chozo."

Zelda sighed. This whole conversation was going in circles, and while it was clear the bird woman knew _something_ she was no closer to figuring out exactly what it was.

"Emmiline," the princess said, "perhaps it would be best to continue this conversation back at the castle. Samus and I have just traveled a very long way, and I've missed my father dearly."

"Oh yes," the Rito said, nodding, "of course! I don't want to keep you from that."

Zelda wondered if Samus was rolling her eyes behind her visor and hoped she wasn't given how visible the hunter's eyes were now. She could not help but smile to herself as she imagined what Samus and Pikachu must have thought of this ridiculous conversation with the high-strung bird person. But that smile quickly faded as she thought about going back to the castle and facing her father and Impa once more. She'd certainly be sleeping in her own bedroom tonight, and it would look far too suspicious if Samus were to join her.

"Princess?" Emmiline asked.

"Hmm?" Zelda glanced over to her. "Sorry. Just zoned out for a minute. Long trip home."

"Ah… I see. As long as you're okay."

Zelda forced herself to smile. "I'm just fine, Emmiline." She then turned to Link. "Why don't you lead the way?"

The hero nodded and took one more expressionless glance at Samus before turning around and leading them toward the castle. No one spoke for the rest of the way, and Zelda was thankful for the silence. She was trying to sort through a series of conflicted emotions and it didn't help matters that she was tempted to try to hold Samus's hand to let the hunter know she had not meant to be so cold earlier, but she still couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't have anyone know just yet.

 _I'll tell them eventually,_ Zelda thought to herself. _It's just not a good time yet. Too much going on._

A thought suddenly occurred to her that made her hair stand on end. She hadn't said anything to Samus about her feelings about her father knowing about their relationship, so there was nothing stopping Samus from potnetially outing her.

 _I'm sure it will be obvious once we get there, and she wouldn't be so dense as to—_ A sinking feeling welled up in her stomach. _Who am I kidding? These are_ Samus's _social skills I'm counting on! There's no way she's just going to be able to tell I'm uncomfortable with everyone knowing!_

She could have kicked herself for not saying something to Samus before they left the ship, but she had no idea how she would have phrased it without making it sound like she was embarrassed to be with her in that way. Surely the hunter would have to understand the social customs of her world were different than everywhere else they had been.

The knot in her stomach tightened when she remembed the way Samus had just walked up to Princess Peach and the others in Mushroom Kingdom and announced that she and Zelda were lesbians together now. A similar scene flashed through Zelda's mind, except this time it took place with her father and the rest of the Hyrule Royal Court, and her face turned a deep red.

She was just starting to freak out when she felt a cool metallic hand on her shoulder and turned around to see Samus staring down at her with a look of concern through the visor. Link and Emmiline continued forward as though they didn't even notice the others had stopped. Even Pikachu seemed to pick up something was wrong, and his ears twitched as he looked at Zelda.

"What's wrong?" Samus asked softly once she was certain they were out of earshot of the others.

"Nothing," Zelda snapped back, a bit too quickly, and Samus frowned. "I'm fine."

"You brushed away my hand earlier and now your heart rate and blood pressure are elevated. My scans show your biosigns are consistent with someone of your species having an anxiety attack, so I know you're not fine."

Zelda just frowned and shook her head, looking down and away from the hunter. "It's nothing. Just stupid things. Forget it. I'm sorry for brushing away your hand earlier."

Samus tilted her head as she studied Zelda. "You didn't want me to hold your hand here. When we met, you said you didn't even think two women could be together since it was so rare. It's not customary in your world, and you're scared of how your family will react, especially Link and your father because they already don't like me much."

Zelda's eyes widened as she looked up at Samus in surprise. She had truly underestimated the bounty hunter.

"Look, I can't relate to that," Samus continued. "I don't have family so I never had to come out to anyone, but you're nervous and I don't want you to be. I won't let anyone know if you're not comfortable with it."

Zelda didn't know what to say as she stared up at Samus.

"Thank you," the princess said after a moment of silently considering different things to say and discarding them all.

Samus nodded. "I don't understand, but I don't want you to be upset or nervous. There are more important things to worry about right now, and I respect that."

Zelda just smiled, feeling like a weight had been lifted from her chest as she reached out her hand and held Samus's, beaming as she looked up at the bounty hunter. Somehow, seeing her blue eyes looking back at her through the visor made a lot her anxiety melt away. And as they turned to rejoin the group, Zelda took her hand and held it all the way down to Link and Emmiline.


	23. Ch 23: Dreams Unwind

**Author's Note:** So we are definitely getting toward the end now, but we are not quite there yet.

Once again, I want to say a quick thank you to everyone who continues to read, review and support this story. I greatly appreciate it, especially in times like these when it feels a bit harder to write than others.

Enjoy!

 **Chapter 23: Dreams Unwind**

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Samus turned to see Link behind her, a conflicted expression on his face. Though nervous, his posture showed no signs of hostility for once.

"Say whatever you need to," the hunter replied, not sure why he was even bothering to ask. Zelda was in a meeting with her father, Emmiline, and the Royal Court while Samus and Link were waiting out in one of the great stones halls.

"I meant, can we talk alone?"

Samus tilted her head. "We are alone."

Link raised an eyebrow and pointed to her shoulder. Pikachu was still sitting on it, not doing much until he shifted his focus to glare at Link.

"Pika pika!"

"He says you can say whatever you need to say in front of him," Samus said, looking down the long hall toward both ends. There were some wooden doors along the walls, though she didn't know what was behind them.

"You actually know what he's saying?"

Samus shrugged. "He's pretty straightforward."

"He's literally just saying his name over and over."

"Did you have something you wanted to talk about or not?"

Link grunted, clearly wanting to inquire further about Samus's ability to speak to the Pokémon but giving in for the time being.

"Look," he began, shifting uncomfortably, "I know I kind of acted like a jackass when you got here the first time, and I wanted to say I'm sorry."

Samus's eyes widened in surprise. That was not what she had been expecting.

"When you got here, it was at the same time as that dragon thing, and… I don't know. I thought there was a connection there. I didn't trust you. I still don't really trust you, but you managed to bring Zelda back in one piece while gathering those Wonder things, so unless this is an extremely elaborate scheme to double-cross us, you're okay in my book."

Samus didn't say anything. Link was clearly uncomfortable, and his tension was making her anxious. She began absently fiddling with a few of the controls on the arm cannon as she waited for him to continue.

"It's been a long time since anyone in Hyrule has wielded the sort of power you do." He stared at her very seriously. "The last time I met anyone with your level of power, he was a Gerudo King who killed off most of the Royal Family and took over Hyrule. Zelda was forced to go into hiding for seven years. I'm assuming you've met Sheik. That's where she comes from."

"Does this story have a point?" Samus asked, not sure why she was being so short with him.

"It does." His tone was calmer than hers for once, and the look he gave her was sincere. "Seventeen years ago, Zelda and I sealed Ganondorf away. It was supposed to be forever, but it never felt that way to me. I don't know if you can relate to it but… it was like I knew the danger was gone and Zelda was safe now, but part of me could never believe it. And all these years it just feels like I've been waiting for that kind of threat to return. So when I saw you and that dragon and how easily I was overpowered…"

"I know." Samus turned away from playing with her cannon and met Link's eyes. "I understand more than you could ever know. I was the foreign thing, the powerful being who came out of nowhere, just like he did. And it triggered that latent part of you that's been waiting. I get that."

"I know it probably makes me sound crazy."

Samus shook her head. "No, not at all. You went through something. You saw it happen once so you know it's always possible for it to happen again. You can't live without that awareness of what could be lurking around every corner, and I get that. I actually… I deal with a lot of that myself."

Link nodded. "I imagine you would. I'm a warrior, but I haven't seen anywhere near the number of battles you have. Living like that, it makes me wonder how you ever relax at all."

The discomfort came back immediately, and Samus turned to fiddle with her cannon once more. "I don't really…"

"Are you sure?" Link looked legitimately surprised, and it confused Samus.

"What do you mean?"'

"Well, I mean, I can't totally see your face behind that mask, but from what I can see, you don't look quite as… exhausted? I guess?"

"I looked exhausted the first time I was here?"

Link shrugged. "You looked… tired. Just… I don't know how to explain it. Tired. Not physically but almost tired of just living. Like you just got up and forced yourself through the motions everyday."

"And I don't look like that now?"

Link shook his head. "It's Zelda, right?"

Samus could feel herself stiffen.

"Zelda has that effect on people," Link continued, oblivious to her sudden shift. "She's warm and kind and always trying to heal people, whatever's wrong with them. It's like she wants to save the whole damn world, but instead of striking things down with a sword, she kind of… gives life to the things that are already there."

Samus silently reflected on Link's words, remembering the princess's instance on healing her wounds and even the failed attempt to pierce her mind and ease the effects of the PTSD. She thought of the way holding Zelda in her arms as she slept had eased her nightmares and allowed her to actually rest for the first time in years, and she could understand exactly why Link had made the observation he did.

"Sorry," the Hylian hero said with a nervous chuckle. "I guess that was kind of cheesy. I just… Zelda's a really great person, and I care about her. She and I went through something huge together that no one else ever experienced, and even now she's like the sister I never had. I get really protective of her. I don't want to see anyone hurt her or drain away that light she radiates."

"She's… really a very special person." Samus caught herself smiling behind the visor, and it must have showed in her eyes because Link smiled back.

"I guess we do have something in common."

"Wanting the best for Zelda." Samus paused. "This coming battle isn't going to be easy, Link. Only those who wield the Triforce can wield the other Wonders, but they can use them to enhance other beings. We already know Ganon's used the Wonder of Shadow on Ridley. There's no telling what else he's figured out how to do, and I don't know how helpful that little Chozo priestess you brought us is going to be."

Link nodded solemnly. "Emmiline will be helpful for the final ritual, when we seal away Ganon and the Wonders once and for all. But as for the final battle, we've got me and Zelda both, plus twice as many Wonders as Ridley and Ganon. We can take them. And you're one hell of a warrior yourself, Sam."

Samus raised her eyebrows at the nickname. She wasn't used to people being so familiar with her, especially not after being so hostile only one meeting before. "That was quite the one-eighty."'

Link shrugged. "I trust Zelda's judgment. You protected her, and you're important to her. That's good enough for me to consider you a friend."

Samus was trying to figure out just how important Link thought she was to Zelda when her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden rumbling and crashing sound. Both heroes and Pikachu sprung into the ready position as several cries rang out in the distances, and Samus could feel her adrenaline spiking as Pikachu hopped off of her shoulder.

"That's coming from the Hall of the Royal Court," Link said, drawing the Master Sword from its sheath on his back.

Samus had her cannon raised as she felt her skin prickling. She knew that was where Zelda was. Without saying a word, she dashed off in the direction of the sound as Link and Pikachu followed close behind.

The sound of an explosion shook the castle again, and the mere seconds it was taking to run to Zelda were stretching on for what felt like hours. Samus knew what was happening, and her worst fears were confirmed the moment she heard the curdling high-pitched screech of her lifelong nemesis.

Ridley was here. And that meant Ganon was too. Hyrule Castle was under attack, and for all she knew, she and Zelda had led them straight to it. She should have realized this could have happened, and she silently cursed herself for not planning for it. Somehow, Ridley must have found out they had recovered all of the remaining Wonders and decided to come finish them off once and for all. But Samus wasn't about to let that happen.

As the hunter rounded one of the corners, she could see the remains of the Hall of the Royal Court. The stone roof had been torn clean off the castle and the once stately chamber was in ruins. Flames burned down the draperies as the walls crumbled around the scattering members of the Court. Samus couldn't see where Zelda was right away, but she saw Ridley, standing like Death himself amongst the black smoke and smoldering debris. He held some woman in his hand, and before Samus could identify her, the dragon had bitten her clean in half.

Rage replaced anxiety as Samus let off a barrage of missiles, all pointed straight at the dragon's heart. By the time he saw them coming it was too late, and they made contact dead in the center of his chest. Ridley screamed, and Samus wasted no time at all, launching herself into the air and rolling into the electrified screw attack as she launched herself at him.

The dragon screeched and flailed madly, trying to tear through Samus's armor but making no progress as the bounty hunter used her grapple beam to snare him around his throat and scorch his face with her plasma beam. Ridley beat his wings madly, trying to get airborne and escape, but he was blinded by the plasma blasts and all he managed to do was throw them both into one of the crumbling stone walls.

Samus fell hard against the castle wall, just hard enough that she lost her grip on the grapple beam and the space dragon was able to wriggle free. She jumped back up to her feet, but an explosion sent her flying. Alarms flashed across Samus's HUD as the hunter was thrown clean across the Great Hall by what appeared to be a massive fireball. Her body felt like it was burning, even with the protections of the Varia Suit to insulate her.

Tumbling across the ground, she struggled to get her bearings, but once she had them, it didn't take long to stand up and lock her cannon back on Ridley. But this time, however, something was different. Instead of the dark purple glow she was used to seeing around the space dragon, Ridley was enveloped in what appeared to be glowing red flames, and even as she readied her next attack, he was shooting another massive fireball from his mouth. Samus didn't have time to shoot as she jumped out of the way, barely escaping as she watched the fireball explode.

Everything was on fire now, and Samus was trapped, surrounded by flames. While she knew from experience just how powerful Ridley's attacks could be, she had never seen him shoot flames of this magnitude, and she was certain Ganon had used the Wonder of Fire to augment the dragon's power.

She raised her cannon and was about to attack back when something caught her eye. There was a flash of blue light, and suddenly a wave of water appeared out of nowhere, washing over the flames and yet somehow parting in just the right place to spare the bounty hunter. As it receded, Samus looked over her shoulder and grinned.

Zelda stepped toward her, glowing with a bright blue light as the two women stood side by side, facing down the dragon.

"Told you I'm not useless in battle," Zelda said with a smirk as she looked up at Samus. The princess's hair and dress were blowing through the hot air, and her eyes were fierce and sharp. The Triforce on the back of her hand glowed brightly as magic energy swirled about her palms.

"I know." Samus grinned behind her visor, the Light Suit shining even brighter now in the presence of the Wielder of the Triforce, and Samus could feel a burst of energy building within her.

Ridley screamed and opened his mouth again, flames shooting out of it, but Zelda was quick as she used her Water magic to materialize a wave in the air and send it at him. It easily snuffed out the flame before it got anywhere near the princess and the bounty hunter, but the intensity of the heat also caused the water to evaporate as they canceled each other out. It seemed the Wonders of Fire and Water were equally matched.

Frustrated by the princess's trick, Ridley hurled himself into the air and lunged straight for the two women, but Samus was ready for him. Not missing a beat, the hunter charged up an electrifying wave beam shot as she ran toward him. She released it in the same instant as she slammed the nose of her arm cannon directly into his face.

The dragon wailed as he sputtered through the air, nearly crashing into the ground before righting himself once more, but Samus was relentless. Once more, she wrapped her grapple beam around his neck, pulling it tight and choking him. As the dragon gasped for air, the bounty hunter shoved her arm cannon into his mouth and down his throat.

He bit down on her arm and tried to summon his flames, but her tight grapple beam was cutting off his air supply, effectively smothering them before they had a chance to form. As Ridley swiped his claws furiously, trying to tear Samus off of him, she shot off a series of super missiles into his throat, only loosening the grapple beam enough to let the ballistics through.

Ridley's body jerked wildly as the missiles exploded within him, and his screeches turned to dying gurgles. No longer in control of his wings, both he and the hunter tumbled to the ground, but she didn't let up, continuing to fire missile after missile into the dragon until they were both on the ground.

Only once she was certain she had vanquished him did the hunter stand, her shining armor tarnished by soot and dragon's blood but still radiating the Light of Aether. Ridley lay at her feet, dead and bleeding out, and as she stared down at her life long nemesis, she kicked his corpse for good measure. The hollow thud as her foot made contact left no doubt in her mind. Ridley was dead. For once and for all, the being who had haunted her and who she had hunted was dead.

As she turned back to Zelda, she expected to see a look of relief on the princess's face, but instead, Zelda stared into the air with a look of panic-stricken horror. Even as Samus ran toward her, it was as though she didn't notice the bounty hunter or the dead dragon at all. And once Samus reached her side, she turned to see what Zelda was looking at and instantly understood why.

Above Ridley's corpse hovered Ganon, the Dark Lord himself. And unlike before, he now glowed with a mixture of the dark purple energy as well as the red energy flames that had surrounded Ridley. Samus pointed her cannon at him instinctively, but Zelda gasped and pulled the hunter's arm down. It wasn't that she didn't want Samus to shoot Ganon, but rather her fear that Samus might hit what Ganon held in his arms.

Using him like a human shield, Ganon was holding the King of Hyrule in front of his body, directly between himself and Samus. The wicked wizard grinned as he stared down at the princess and the hunter. The King thrashed madly in his arms but to no avail. Ganondorf was preternaturally strong, and the old man didn't stand a chance.

"Zelda!" he yelled out as he tried in vain to escape from Ganon's grasp.

"Father!" Zelda shouted, starting to make a run for him until Samus held her back.

"Don't," was all the bounty hunter said before the princess came to her senses and stopped.

"I see your valiant knight slayed my dragon," Ganon mocked, looking down at Zelda. "While it's a bit of an inconvenience for me, I must say, it was an excellent distraction."

Zelda's hands balled into fists and she was shaking with rage.

"You let my father go!" she yelled.

"Or what?" the wizard asked, gripping the King suddenly around the throat and causing him to gasp for air.

"Samus and I have twice as many Wonders as you do!" she shouted back. "And we know how to use them now! You hurt my father, and we'll kill you!"

Ganon laughed, his horrible deep throated laughed. "My dear princess, if you could kill me while sparing your father's life you would have already done so. But you haven't, have you?"

Samus trained her cannon on him, trying to get a clear shot on the wizard's head, but he turned to her with a nasty snarl as he tightened his grip on the King's throat.

"Don't even think about it, mercenary," he said as the King's face began to turn blue. "You fire at me, and it will hit the King, and I doubt your precious princess would like that very much. So I'll offer you a little deal. You hand over the four Wonders, and I'll let this miserable meat sack live out the short remainder of his life."

"You let my father go!" Zelda demanded, clearly not paying any attention to what Ganon had just said.

Samus sighed. She knew this was not going to end well, and while it broke her heart to see Zelda in so much pain, she couldn't say she felt any greater urgency to save the King than she felt to save anyone else. Enough years as a mercenary had hardened her against these kinds of threats, and she was just thankful that for once she was the one able to think rationally while Zelda was having an emotional crisis.

Running through her weapons systems, Samus had an idea. She did have the Light Suit now, after all, and that meant she had access to the light beam. While the weapon would likely hurt Zelda's father, it would not harm him nearly as badly as it would hurt a being of darkness like Ganon.

"Give me the Wonders," Ganon repeated, starring down at the trembling Zelda as he gripped the asphyxiating monarch.

"Give me my father!"

"You try my patience! Buy his freedom with those orbs or refuse and send him to his death! Make your choice!"

As the wizard was distracted shouting at Zelda, Samus quickly took aim and fired off two light beam shots. They struck him in the head, barely brushing the King. Ganon was thrown several feet in the air, his grip on the monarch loosening just enough that the King was able to slip out of his grasp.

It was a long fall to the ground, and the painful cracking sound on his impact let Samus know something was likely broken, but he was alive and free of Ganon's grasp and that was what mattered.

"Father!" Zelda shouted. She ran to him as Samus continued to fire shots of the light beam at Ganon.

"Zelda!" the King called from where he lay on the ground, and though he was a pathetic sight, Zelda's face was flooded with relief and joy as she rushed to his side.

But her relief was short-lived, however, as a bolt of black lightning crashed through the sky, striking the King down where he lay. Zelda froze in her tracks and stared in horror at the lifeless husk of the fallen King of Hyrule, his eyes still open but no longer seeing anything.

Samus paused for a moment as she looked to where Zelda stood, horror-stricken, but even the momentary lapse in her attention was too long. Within seconds, another bolt of black lightning shot down from the sky, this time striking the bounty hunter. She was thrown to the ground, clutching her chest as the sharp pain ripped through it.

"Father," Zelda whimpered, her eyes wide with terror at the carnage around her. "Samus… S-Samus…"

"I told you, princess," Ganon said, his eyes mocking her. "Your choice was either to give me the Wonders or I would kill you father. You and your mercenary made your choice, and now I have no option but to take the Wonders from you by force."

His hand balled into a tight fist, and its Triforce began to glow with a dark purple energy. He pulled it back behind him before releasing it and sending a blast of dark energy hurdling toward the petrified princess.

But it never made contact. Second before the attack hit, Samus scooped Zelda up into her arms and leapt into the air holding her, pivoting about and returning fire at Ganondorf with her light beam. The shots hit their mark, momentarily stunning him just long enough for Samus to get Zelda safely onto the ground.

"I know this is hard for you," Samus said to Zelda, using her own body as a shield between the princess and Ganon as she kept her canon trained on the dark wizard, "but I need you, Zelda. We're a team, and I can't beat him without you."

Zelda took a moment to steel herself, but then she nodded and focused her attention on her magic, drawing it into her hands once more as she took a fighting stance.

"He killed my father," she said, "and he's a threat to my kingdom. There's no way I'm letting you fight him alone. Let's do this."


	24. Ch 24: Landslide

**Author's Note:** Two chapters in one week? I know that seems a bit odd given the pace I've been going at lately, but this was how fast I worked on most of the Human Series. We're so close to the end now that I've got some good momentum going.

Thanks again to everyone reading and reviewing! It is so greatly appreciated! Hope you enjoy chapter 24!

 **Chapter 24: Landslide**

Samus leapt forward, firing off bursts of brilliant light from her arm cannon, but Ganon was quick and evaded the shots. He sent fistfuls of dark magic at the hunter as she landed on the ground, but Samus's reflexes were too fast for him. She was out of harm's way and returning fire before he even knew what was going on. This time, a few of her light shots did hit their mark, but Zelda knew that alone wasn't gong to be enough and Samus couldn't keep up the high stakes agility forever. It was going to take more than just the Light Suit upgrade to bring down the Dark Lord.

Taking a deep breath, Zelda braced herself. Her father lay dead less than ten yards from where she stood, and she knew what Ganon's intent had been. He had wanted to shake her to the very core, and it was working. She looked up at Samus fighting, bouncing off of walls and firing missiles while dodging blasts of dark magic and fire, and she knew she had to keep herself together. She had told Samus she wasn't going to be useless on the battlefield, and she refused to have Ganon contradict that.

Drawing magic into her hands, Zelda tried to focus. She had four Wonders at her disposal: Water, Spirit, Light, and Forest. She had already used two of them during this battle and had no idea what sort of powers the remaining two had. At the very least, however, she knew she had the appropriate Wonders to counteract the ones Ganon had, and hopefully that would be all she needed, not that she expected the battle to be an easy one.

As the Dark Lord let off a combination of flame and dark energy, Samus faltered just long enough between evasions that she took a direct hit to her abdomen. The bounty hunter gasped as she was thrown backward across the long stone chamber into a pile of charred debris. And Ganon didn't miss a second. He was on her in an instant, showering the fallen hunter with fiery rain and filling the air with a deep purple miasma.

Hearing Samus gasp as she took Ganon's beating was enough to snap Zelda back to her senses, and a righteous fury fueled the princess's magic. As she ran toward the battle, she could feel an energy building in her palms far greater than any she had experienced before, even with the aid of the Wonders.

As Ganon reared his arm back to take a particularly nasty shot at Samus, Zelda thrust her palm forward, a wall of blue and golden light erupting from it and enveloping Ganon and his magic.

The Dark Lord was blown backwards through the air along with the miasma, and a cool wave of water swept over the battlefield once more, putting out anything scorched by the wizard's flames. At this point, Samus was back on her feet and charging at him, sending volleys of light beam shots at him, some hitting and others missing their mark, but she was relentless. Ganon struck back with bolts of fire and darkness, but Zelda's golden-blue waves easily parried them out of the way as she ran toward Samus.

For once, the bounty hunter stayed still, holding her fire from her spot on the ground and aiming up at Ganon as Zelda ran to her side. At first the princess wondered if Samus were injured and unable to dodge, but then she realized the hunter was merely waiting for her. And as she reached her side, Samus scooped Zelda up into her arms and leapt into the air. They didn't need to dodge Ganon's attacks quite as much anymore as Zelda cast a particularly powerful Nayru's Love shield around them.

Samus continued shooting at the Wizard with her light beam, and while it was effective, it was chipping away at him too slowly. They needed to come up with a better plan. As the hunter pivoted in midair to evade a particularly nasty fire blast, Zelda spied two figures on the ground below.

"Link!" she shouted to the green blur on the ground as she reached into her satchel and grasped the Wonder of Forest. It may have been a long shot, but she had an idea, especially when she saw Pikachu following close behind him.

"Zelda!" he shouted back, and his eyes grew wide as he realized she had tossed the glowing green orb at him. Dashing forward, her jumped into the air and grabbed it in one hand, still holding the Master Sword in the other. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

A firebomb made impact, causing Samus to jerk and stumble awkwardly as Zelda clung tightly to her until the bounty hunter could rectify herself. As Samus charged back toward attacking Ganon, Zelda held tight and called to Link. "It's the Wonder of Forest! Use its Forest Magic!"

The green-clad hero looked confused and bewildered as he looked between Zelda and the Wonder in his hand. "What the hell is Forest Magic?"

"Figure it out!" she shouted as Samus narrowly evaded several more explosions and Zelda was forced to recast her Nayru's Love spell.

Samus sent some kind of massive explosive Ganon's way, but the Dark Lord protected himself with an energy shield. Still, the concussive blast was enough to knock him back several meters as Samus fired off more missiles.

"This isn't working," Zelda said, clinging tight to Samus's white armor. Even though it looked like the hunter had taken several direct hits of Ganon's dark magic, the Light Suit had protected her from the worst of its effects.

"I'm open to suggestions," the bounty hunter said with a grunt as another of Ganon's firebombs wracked the magical shielding around them.

"I gave Link the Wonder of Forest."

"Great. He can distract Ganon by throwing plants at him." Samus charged up a light beam shot and released the full blast before kicking and ricocheting off of a wall to get another angle of attack.

Zelda grunted, trying to keep her mind focused on the battle. She had hoped that perhaps Link, having been raised in the Kokiri Forest, might have had some knowledge of Forest magic or even some kind of instinct about how to use the green Wonder. Then again, he had never been quite the spell caster that Zelda was, so it was entirely possible he'd be even more confused by the thing than she was.

Samus gasped as a massive blast of dark energy slammed into her and the Princess, all but shattering the shield of Nayru's love as the two women toppled to the ground. Fortunately, Zelda caught them at the last minute, casting a weak levitation spell to break their fall, and Samus made sure to position herself under Zelda so as to take the brunt of the impact.

They ended up with Samus laying flat on her back, holding Zelda close to her chest as the princess lay on top of her.

"Are you okay?" the bounty hunter asked, her blue eyes looking up at Zelda through the white visor.

"I'm okay," Zelda said with a smile. "Thanks for not squishing me."

"Heh…" Samus's eyes darted over to the side, and she grabbed Zelda tightly, pulling her with her as she quickly got to her knees and rolled out of the way of an incoming projectile.

As Samus got steady on one knee, she pushed Zelda behind her and pointed her cannon up at the massive object that had nearly slammed into them. Zelda thought she was going to be sick when she realized exactly what she was looking at.

It was Ridley, hovering ominously above them glowing with a deep purple energy so dark it was almost black. Only the dragon had not recovered at all since the last time Samus had faced him; he was still dead. And the reanimated corpse looked absolutely gruesome as the head lolled off to one side on its broken neck and one of the wings was so mangled it was barely attached to the body at all anymore.

Seeing the reanimated space dragon was bad enough, but Zelda's heart began to race as she realized what else it meant if Ganon had the power to reanimate dead tissue. But she didn't have time to think about it before being hoisted up onto Samus's back as the bounty hunter jumped out of the way of another explosion. Zelda looked up to see the dead Ridley's jaw dangling open as another fireball formed deep in his throat, eventually erupting out of the slackened mouth.

Thankfully, Samus was just as quick as ever, as if seeing a reanimated corpse was nothing new to her. She still fought as ruthlessly but gracefully as if this were the sort of threat she faced everyday, and Zelda was suddenly extremely grateful her partner was the hardened warrior she was. On the battlefield, Samus was a merciless war goddess, confident and calculating. The exact opposite of how she was around civilians. And Zelda watched in awe as the hunter fought off attacks from both Ganondorf and the reanimated Ridley, dishing it out just as much as the other two combined.

Undead Ridley was a lot slower than living Ridley, and it was much easier for Samus to plant a few well-timed super missiles into the corpse. The first few were enough to tear off the remainder of the mutilated wing, and after that, she began sinking missile after missile into his chest cavity until the dragon burst apart completely. A final shot directly into his skull ended him beyond repair, leaving no part of him left to be reanimated again. All the while, Zelda continued to cast Nayru's Love and tried to block Ganon's attacks so Samus could work.

It was only once Ridley was completely obliterated that the bounty hunter turned back to Ganondorf, her keen senses all finely tuned on the Dark Lord. Only Zelda saw the other form coming up from behind them, and as she recognized it, she screamed in horror.

Without needing and further explanation, Samus whipped around, forcefully covering Zelda's eyes with her hands and shielding the princess from what was about to happen. All Zelda heard was two super missile blasts, and she knew it was over. Samus removed her hand from the princess's eyes and returned to her battle with Ganon, Zelda falling limp around her shoulders. Despite her best efforts not to look, Zelda took a quick glance at the mass of scorched tissue, blood spatter, and tattered clothes that had once been the King of Hyrule, and she knew that image was going to stay with her for the rest of her life.

She clung weakly to Samus's shoulders, fighting down the urge to be sick. Her mind was completely blank, and she couldn't even feel the magic pulsing in her hands anymore. Ganon had known exactly how to get into her head, and he had succeeded. There were no protection spells against what she had just witnessed.

But Zelda's distraction also meant there were no more protection spells to block Ganon's attacks, and Samus had to work twice as hard to evade them. The Dark Lord seemed very aware of what was going on because he grinned at the bounty hunter and cupped his hands as his palms let off a wide spray of burning flames and dark energy. There was no way at all for the bounty hunter to dodge or to protect Zelda while maintaining her offensive position. Out of desperation, she kicked off of the nearest wall and threw them both to the ground again, pulling Zelda to her chest and taking the full force of Ganon's attack on her back.

Samus gasped and fell forward, an agonizing whimper escaping her throat. But she braced herself with her hand and cannon so as not to fall on Zelda as she continued to endure Ganon's brutal attack.

"S-Samus!" Zelda yelled as she realized what was going on even through her brain's foggy state. Her heart was racing, and she started to panic as she tried to remember what to do, which spells to cast or which of the Wonders to use.

"Flood… the area…" Samus panted as she looked down at Zelda. "I'll tell you… when…" She gasped as one of her arms gave out, but she quickly rectified herself, avoiding crushing Zelda. "Just… follow my lead. You can do this… I need you, Zelda."

The princess stared up at her, looking deep into her blue eyes, and suddenly she felt more grounded. Having Samus there and sharing that connection with her was enough to bring her back into the present.

"Okay," she whispered, placing one hand on Samus's chest plate. "I trust you."

The barrage of fire from Ganon suddenly stopped as Zelda heard the Dark Lord's cry followed by a loud crash as he groaned. In the moment of respite, Samus tried to stand up, but the brutality of the Ganon's attack had left her weak with exhaustion and Zelda had to help her to her feet. As soon as she was steady, however, she picked Zelda up once more and dashed over toward one of the crumbling stone walls. There was considerably less spring in her step than before, but she still managed to scale high enough that they were quite high off of the ground.

Zelda looked down to see what had caused the crash, and her eyes widened when she discovered Ganondorf was ensnared by what looked like a series of vines and tree roots that had just grown out of the ground. Forest magic.

"Do it," Samus said, her voice tired. "Flood the area. That spell won't last long."

Indeed, everything was on fire around him, and Ganon was already starting to burn through the roots and vines. Zelda grasped the Wonder of Water tight in her hand and summoned its powers, focusing all of her magic energy into it once more as a massive wave materialized and managed to completely flood the crumbling remains of the great chamber. In the distance, she could see Link and Pikachu had also managed to climb up one of the walls as Ganon was trapped deep below the water's surface, still unable to break free of his wooded prison.

Before Zelda could do anything else, Pikachu leapt into the air his cheeks crackling with sparks as he leapt over the water. He appeared frozen midair for a second before a lightning bolt came down from the clouds, striking him before he sent the full blast of the electricity into the water below.

Samus also leapt into the air, flying over the dangerously electrified water with a series of midair somersaults before catching Pikachu and throwing him over to Zelda. With a startled gasp, Zelda jumped up and caught the confused Pokémon.

"Samus!" Link shouted from across the chamber as he threw the Master Sword. "Catch!"

Getting out of her somersault formation, Samus caught the sword by its hilt. She held tight to the ancient sword as her massive weight sunk her and the blade deep into the electrified waters just above where Ganon was trapped.

Zelda gasped as she watched Samus forcefully run the sword straight through Ganon's body, and the once powerful dark wizard ceased his struggling. Before her eyes, his entire body began to turn to stone, radiating out from the point where the blade was embedded within him.

Once the stone was completely solidified, the roots and vines that held him began to recede, as did the electrified water that flooded the chamber. Once it was safe to do so, Zelda, Link, and Pikachu ran out onto the battlefield. The water had washed away most of the remains of the other corpses, but Zelda wasn't even paying attention to that.

She ran directly to Samus. The bounty hunter was down on one knee, her chest completely supported by the other leg as her head hung limp and she tried to keep herself propped up with her hand and cannon. She panting heavily and gasping for air, and Zelda was at her side in an instant. Gently, she helped the hunter down to wear she mostly lay on the ground, supporting herself on her forearms, and slowly Zelda removed her helmet in hopes that it would help Samus get some air.

Zelda sat down and pulled the bounty hunter's head and part of her armored torso into her lap. She pulled out Samus's ponytail and ran her fingers gently through her sweat-caked hair. There was a bit of dried blood, and while Samus looked a little banged up, it seemed she was mostly exhausted. She closed her eyes and used her magic to "look" over Samus's body, and while there were some burns and heavy bruising, particularly to her back, it seemed her armor had absorbed the vast majority of the damage. As Samus lay on Zelda's lap and her breathing began to slow, the princess was certain she was merely exhausted, and it was a great relief.

"So," Link said, as Zelda turned to look up at him, "I guess we figured out what the hell Forest Magic can do." He smirked, and Zelda smiled back before turning back to Samus and running her hand over the hunter's face.

"I take it he's dead?" Zelda asked without even looking at the stone statue beside her that used to be Ganondorf. "You're certain of this."

"See for yourself." Link held something out to her, and Zelda looked up to see it was two orbs, one red and the other purple. The Wonders of Fire and Shadow. "Found them next to his body once the water receded."

"Pikachu!" the yellow rodent said, running over to Zelda and sniffing Samus curiously before looking to the princess. Before Zelda could explain that the hunter was just exhausted, Samus's armored arm reached out and grabbed Pikachu, pulling him close to her as she lay. It looked strangely like a child holding a teddy bear, and Pikachu seemed completely fine with it because he nuzzled himself deep into Samus's chest and snuggled with her.

Quietly, Zelda took the two Wonders from Link's hand before looking over to the stone Ganondorf. His body was sealed by the powers of the Master Sword once more, and she could no longer sense any magical energy coming from him.

As Link handed her the green Forest Wonder, she put all three into her satchel with the other three. She stared for a while at her now complete set of totally innocuous looking orbs and knew it would hit her soon just how much they had been through to get to this point, how much had been lost.

She tried to keep her thoughts away from what she had seen in battle and instead focused on gently petting Samus's hair and watching the bounty hunter who lay in her lap holding Pikachu like he was a ragdoll. She must have been completely exhausted from battle if she was just lying on the ground like that without a helmet. But there was something comforting about that, knowing the mercenary trusted her so completely. The Samus she had met back when everything began would never have allowed herself to be in such a position, much less on a battlefield or around Link.

Something came over Zelda in that moment, and though she knew Link was watching, she didn't feel like suppressing the impulse. Gentle moving a lock of blonde hair behind Samus's ear, Zelda leaned over and kissed the bounty hunter's cheek, lingering over her just long enough that there would be no question in anyone's mind as to what she was doing.

"I love you," she whispered, not caring who heard.


	25. Ch 25: The Rainbow's End

**Author's Note:** Well, we made it. This is the final chapter of Seven Wonders, and I hope you enjoyed the story. I had other ideas of things to do, but honestly none of them felt like they fit quite right, and this felt like a good ending place to me. This is a lesbian fairy tale after all, and it ends... well... mostly like a fairy tale would.

Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed and supported this story. It was my first ever multi chapter romance, and I hope I was able to do a good job. Please let me know what you thought of the story.

And if you haven't done so already, I highly recommend listening to the Fleetwood Mac song "Seven Wonders" that was the inspiration for this fic. I must have listened to it fifty times while writing this story. But really, anything by Stevie Nicks is amazing and I highly recommend it.

Well, without further ado, please enjoy the conclusion to Seven Wonders! :)

 **Chapter 25: The Rainbow's End**

The days that followed their battle against Ganon were mostly a blur to Samus and Zelda. So many things happened so quickly that it was difficult to keep track of everything. There were repairs and preparations to be made, people to mourn, and most importantly a kingdom to rule. After all, the King of Hyrule was dead, and there was only one heir who could take his place.

The morning of Queen Zelda's coronation was probably the most hectic one yet, and it didn't help that it was the very next day after the late King's funeral. The abruptness of everything had given all of Hyrule emotional whiplash, and it was surreal to watch everything change over from deep mourning to intense celebration in less than a day's time. No one felt it more than Zelda herself.

She sat alone in her bedroom, momentarily having escaped from her guards and everyone else in charge of preparing her for the big day. Her hair was already set in the most elaborate curls with white flowers interwoven in braids along the back. She was wearing a puffy and ornate gown that was mostly white, save for the bust, which was a deep red wine color. It seemed like a strange look on her, but it had been her mother's dress so many years ago when she had sat as Queen of Hyrule, and it seemed only fitting that Zelda should wear it now that she had finally grown into both it and the role.

Zelda sighed as she glanced at herself in the looking glass. Her face was elaborately made up, much more so than usual, and she thought the darker shades of rouge and lipstick made her look so much older than she had been only a few days ago, but then again, in a lot of ways she was. And once more she was stricken by how much she had grown to resemble her mother.

A rapping at her door made the Queen-to-be sigh. She knew her respite would be short-lived, but she had hoped for a few more minutes of freedom before being ushered back into the insanity of coronation day.

"Come in," she called after a moment, fully expecting to be pulled back out and made to go through the motions of a ceremonial day when she was so emotionally exhausted she wasn't sure how she was even still sitting up. To her surprise, however, she perked up as soon as she saw the door open and watched Samus step through.

The bounty hunter smiled at her, not needing to say anything at all. It was enough to set Zelda at ease as Samus came closer. The hunter was also dressed in traditional ceremonial dress, but it was the dress of a knight, or at least one soon to be knighted. She had on black breeches and a deep red tunic, the same color as the bust of Zelda's dress. It was emblazoned with a golden Triforce emblem, and the same symbol appeared on her black leather gauntlets, which matched her black leather boots. Her hair was pulled into a low ponytail and tied with a deep red ribbon, and despite the fact that she was in men's clothing, the whole ensemble perfectly complimented her muscular yet still feminine physique.

"How did you know where to find me?" Zelda asked, standing up and walking over to her beloved. As ridiculous as she felt in her ceremonial regalia, she thought Samus looked perfectly handsome in hers, and there was something about seeing her that filled her up with energy and made the rest of the world fall away.

Samus put one arm around the princess's shoulder and kissed her on the forehead. "I had a feeling."

Zelda placed both of her hands on Samus's chest and leaned into the hunter's embrace as two strong arms wrapped around her. She closed her eyes as she listened to the sounds of Samus's heart beating.

"I really don't want to go through with this, you know. It feels like once I go out there and become Queen, it just makes everything that happened real."

Samus kissed her forehead again. "But it is real, my love. One way or the other. And I know it's hard, but your people need you now. Seeing you officially coroneted as Queen will help them start to heal, and I'll be right here, by your side."

Zelda smiled as she looked up at Samus. "My knight in golden armor. Officially."

Samus had been the one to come up with the plan a few days ago, back when Zelda's father had first been slain. "That's right. Once you're Queen, you can make me a knight, and I'll be able to call Hyrule my home. So no matter where I am in the galaxy, I'll always have some place to return to."

Zelda was about to say something when there was suddenly another knock on the door. This time, Impa stepped in and looked at the soon-to-be-Queen wrapped up in the arms of the soon-to-be-knight. Her face was unreadable, and while Zelda knew most members of her Court did not approve of her relationship with Samus, Impa had at least been kind enough not to say anything out loud. It wouldn't have mattered if she did, but Zelda appreciated that her longtime protector and caretaker respected her enough to respect her relationship, even if she didn't understand it or necessarily agree with it. She was sure that in time Samus would grow on Impa given how much the two warrior women had in common.

"Are you ready to go, Zelda?" the Sheikah woman asked.

Stepping out of Samus's embrace, Zelda nodded and followed her out of the room and toward the castle grounds where the procession would be held.

The coronation was not as long of a ceremony as Zelda had thought it would be, or perhaps it only felt that way because of how wrapped up in it she was. There was something invigorating about appearing before her people, in front of all of Hyrule, and accepting her crown as they cheered for her. Their renewed hope in their kingdom filled her with a renewed energy, and she felt more alive than she had in days.

The best part by far, however, was when Samus came forward and knelt before the newly crowned Queen. As Zelda looked down, she saw the hunter's blue eyes staring back at her, filled with love, and she was so thankful for the chance to do what she was about to do. Gently, she took the ceremonial sword and touched each of Samus's shoulders, officially dubbing her Lady Samus of Hyrule and making her a part of her world for real.

It wasn't a wedding. Such a thing was still unheard of between two women, but it felt like much more than a regular knighting to either Samus or Zelda. It was a symbol of their commitment to one another, an official way of making Hyrule Samus's true home, one she would belong to, even when she was out amongst the stars. And it was the grandest of ways to end Queen Zelda's coronation.

There would be plenty of time in the future to get the people of Hyrule used o the idea that Samus was more to Zelda than just a knight. They both knew rumors would spread before they were ready to officially come out, especially given that they had shared a bed every night since they had arrived on the planet. But that was all right. People would just be that much less shocked when they learned the truth.

It took a long time for things to calm down after the ceremony, and it wasn't until late in the evening that Zelda was able to give her guards and the members of the Royal Court the slip and run off to where she needed to be. There was still one thing left to do now that all of Hyrule was satisfied that order was being restored and their new Queen had been crowned.

As they had planned days before, Samus and Zelda snuck out together to the Temple of Time. They traveled hand in hand under the cloak of the moonlight, still dressed in their outfits from the day's ceremony. It didn't take long to get there, presumably because everyone who was supposed to be watching over Zelda was just as exhausted as she was, or perhaps because Impa and the others knew that there was nowhere in the universe safer for the Queen to be than by Lady Samus's side.

At any rate, they arrived at the Temple of Time just as the full moon was shining in through one of the stained glass windows. Link and Emmiline were already there waiting for them. Link was in his own ceremonial tunic, similar to the one Samus wore although in a deep forest green. Emmiline was dressed once more in the white Chozo robes as she waited beside Link at the Temple's alter.

"Zelda!" Link called with a grin. "Samus! Hurry up! We've been waiting for you!"

Emmiline nodded. "Couldn't exactly start without you," she murmured, looking embarrassed as though the words had come out more hostile than she had intended. "You have them, right?"

Samus touched a brown satchel than hung at her hip. "Yes."

The Rito nodded. "Good then. Bring them forward."

She looked over to the newest edition to the Temple of Time. Where the Master Sword had once been sheathed in stone, it was now sheathed in the stone statue of a prone Ganondorf. It had been moved there for safe keeping the very same day of his defeat in hopes that sealing him back inside of the otherwise abandoned temple would keep his evil powers at bay.

"So we've got the six spherical Wonders and two pieces of the Triforce," Emmiline thought aloud. "The question remains as to how we access Ganon's piece of the Triforce…"

Samus seemed intrigued by that question and wandered over to the stone Ganon, laying on the ground and frozen in a position as though he were still doing battle with the invisible vines that had once ensnared him. The Lady Knight looked over to the hand which still bore the symbol of the Triforce and, before anyone realized what she was doing, stomped on it. The forearm crumbled beneath her boot, and the severed stone hand fell to the ground. Samus bent over, picked it up, and looked over to the others.

"I removed his triangle. Now can we get started?"

Emmiline looked horribly scandalized, but Link burst out laughing as Samus stared back at all of them with a perfectly straight face. Zelda smiled and nodded.

"Yes, love. Thank you. That'll do just fine."

"Er…" Emmiline made an awkward avian screeching noise as she looked between Samus and Zelda and then back over to the altar, but finally she sighed and relented. "Sure… that'll do. I guess."

The ritual itself was fairly straightforward as Emmiline laid out the six orbs on the altar and then Link and Zelda placed their hands along with Ganon's severed stone appendage on the altar. Samus watched, knowing she would have a part to play in the end but not sure exactly what that would be. She could hear Emmiline speaking some words in Chozo, but it was a dialect she had never heard before, and she couldn't understand what the Rito was saying. Eventually, Emmiline stopped talking. The ritual seemed over as Zelda and Link pulled their hands away and everyone looked over to Samus.

She raised an eyebrow. "That was it?"

"Oh no," Emmiline shook her head.

And no sooner had the Rito said those words than the altar began to shake. All six of the Wonders began to glow brilliantly in their respective colors as they rose into the air. Zelda, Link, and Emmiline stepped back as they realized the six orbs were beginning to float in a circle, and within that circle, reality was becoming distorted. The Wonders were opening a portal.

"What's going on?" Zelda asked, a note of panic in her voice.

"If you gather the Seven Wonders," Emmiline said, as though reciting it straight from a verse, "it'll make a path to the Rainbow's End."

Slowly, the Wonders stopped spinning and began to fuse together into a ring of light surrounding the entrance to the portal. Samus and Zelda looked through it to see what appeared to be some kind of other dimension, something that was as infinite and dark as outer space itself but illuminated by stars. And there was a path, just as Emmiline said. A road that seemed to be an actual, solidified rainbow.

"You want us to walk across that?" Zelda asked, staring out into the vastness of space through the portal. "What will we even find at the end?"

"The final Wonder," Emmiline said. "A link between worlds or something like that. Something said to bend the very fabric of time and space itself and take the user wherever he or she wishes to go."

Zelda could feel her heart quicken at the thought of such a power. Up until now, the Wonders had been useful in battle, but the idea of having something that could transport her anywhere she wanted to be… it meant never have to actually be away from Samus for long. It was better than anything she could have imagined, and she could understand why Ganon would want it so badly.

"Well," the Queen said, holding her hand out to her Lady Knight. "Shall we go?"

Taking her hand, Samus gave her a gentle smile. "As you wish."

Together, Samus and Zelda walked hand in hand through the portal and onto the rainbow road, and as they stepped into the dimension, the portal closed behind them. They were past the point of no return, and yet it did not seem to matter. Because as they walked together, they knew there was no one else in this entire world but the two of them.

And as they walked, they gazed out at the vast empty sky and the starlight that twinkled in and out, and for the first time since they had confessed their feelings for one another they felt truly free. Free from everyone's eyes and thoughts and comments on their relationship and speculations on what they were to one another. For a moment, they didn't have to be a Queen and her Knight or a princess and a bounty hunter. They were just two women in love. Two women holding hands and walking down a road together without anyone staring.

They were almost sad when they reached the end of the rainbow road, but they knew that the Rainbow's End was only the beginning. There, on a Pedestal, sat one last Wonder. It was larger than the others and not quite spherical. It must have had hundreds of facets, and it was clear and shone like glass.

Samus and Zelda stood hand in hand as they looked down at it together.

"I guess this is it," Samus said. "Mission accomplished."

"What are you talking about?" Zelda asked with a playful grin. "This is only the beginning. With this, I'll never have to be apart from you for very long. I can teleport to you and return to Hyrule in no time at all. And you'll be home with me most of the time anyway."

"Home," Samus said with a sad smile. "It's been such a long time since I've actually had one of those…"

"Well now you do. You have Hyrule."

Samus chuckled and shook her head. "No. I have you. Wherever you are, that's my home. That's where I'll always return to."

"And I'll always be waiting and ready for you. And I'll cherish the time we do spend together."

"Are you sure you're willing to sign on for all of that? I do travel a lot. My life is dangerous… as you know. It won't be easy."

Zelda just laughed and shook her head. "I don't want easy. I want you. I don't have to be willing to sign on for all of this. I already have. I'm yours, Samus. I love you, and I want to be with you. Forever. Regardless of what my kingdom says. No matter who we have to fight. In sickness and in health. Come what may. I can face anything. All I ask is that you're by my side for the rest of my life."

Samus could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and as she looked down at Zelda, she was overcome with a sudden desire for her partner. She pulled her close into an embrace and a deep passionate kiss. She could feel the desire in Zelda as well as they kissed long and deep and savored each second of contact with one another before slowly pulling away to catch their breath. When she could finally speak, Samus looked down at Zelda, love and determination in her eyes.

"I love you, Zelda. More than anyone or anything else in the universe. And I swear to you, I will be by your side for the rest of the my life."


End file.
